


Last of the Brave

by SuspectNutria



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms, RWBY
Genre: Crossover, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:07:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 39,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23082205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuspectNutria/pseuds/SuspectNutria
Summary: With remaining UNSC forces fleeing from their planet under attack in the nick of time, they've come across a planet unknown to the universe. Stranded and no way back home, will the UNSC fleet and its ground forces reestablish contact with UNSC HIGHCOM? Or will they stay stranded forever? But underneath Remnant's surface, the legacy of an ancient civilization has been left behind...
Kudos: 5





	1. Naxos Prime

**Just a little note before I start the story: The art style I'll be using for the story is going to be the Halo 2 Anniversary/Halo Wars 2 and some Halo 3 designs for the UNSC.(Or whatever Halo Infinite has in its final release) Weapons the UNSC will be using from the games are all of Halo 2 Anniversary's campaign UNSC weapons, Halo 3's MA5C Assault Rifle and M6G Magnum (2552 model), Halo 3 ODST's silenced SMG (M7S) and M6S magnum, Halo Reach's Spartan Laser, M247H heavy machine gun, M319 Grenade Launcher, DMR, and M6G Magnum (2546 model), and finally Halo 5's ARC-920 Railgun, M739 SAW, and Hydra MLRS (or just Hydra).**

**UNSC vehicles like the Warthog and Pelican will use the same design in Halo 2 Anniversary except for the Scorpion which will be replaced by Reach's Scorpion, the M808C, since Halo 2's is an older version in the lore and hasn't seen conflict since the Human-Covenant War ended in the lore. Other UNSC vehicles will use the same designs they have in Halo Wars 2 such as the Hornet. The Mantis from Halo 5,** **Cobra from Halo Wars 1, and the M274R Mongoose from Halo Reach will also be appearing in this story** **and be used as well. All vehicles and their sounds are exactly from the games they're from and they all use the new UNSC logo.**

**The Marine's Battle dress uniform will be the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War era model (the Marine outfit used in Halo 2 Anniversary, and Halo Wars 1 and 2). And the BDU with M52B body armor from Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST will be present as well for different Marine units such as recon teams and in forests (all of the different variants of Marines in-game will of course be present.) Army soldiers will be using the Cross-branch BDU from Halo Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and all of the different variants they have in-game. And finally ODST's and their armor will be from Halo 3/Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach. All of these rules apply to Covenant technology, weapons, and species as well.**

**Also:**

_Italic_ for radio communications, an AI speaking from a Spartan's helmet and/or ships intercom, a ship or a name of a specific place/object/vehicle or anything really, etc.

**Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Now enjoy the story folks.**

**Last of the Brave**

**Chapter 1: Naxos Prime**

* * *

**March 28, 2563; 14:34:08**

**Disputed UNSC-Covenant Remnant Space**

Onboard the observation deck of a UNSC warship, there stood a man in his mid-40's with light skin, brown eyes and hair, and stood at 5'11, looking down at the planet his ship was orbiting over. He then gave his Ship Director AI an order. "Apex, begin audio log."

" _Affirmative sir, beginning audio log recording now._ " the AI said over the ship's intercom. The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he proceeded to open his eyes again and began to speak.

"Begin log: Vice Admiral Anthony Marshall, service number 13987-57341-AM." he began. "It's been more than ten years since the official end of the Human-Covenant War. It's been ten years, ten long years… I sometimes forget that we even won the war. With all of the recent conflicts during that time frame, it feels like the war is not over yet. Jul 'Mdama's Covenant, the Didact and his Prometheans, the Created… all challenges we faced in order to survive. But a new enemy now puts Humanity's Outer Colonies in their crosshairs. They're called: " _The Believers of the Sacred Faith_ "."

"The Believers are a Covenant Remnant faction that have been a nuisance in the Outer Colonies for the UNSC ever since the end of the war. They are the largest Covenant Remnant faction out there and have been doing hit-and-run tactics on local UNSC fleets and planets. What makes them stand out is their members behavior, they are the most devoted, hardcore, and vicious believers in the Great Journey. The worst thing about them is not the behavior of its members or their military size that makes them so dangerous, it's their leader, the most dangerous Sangheili of the entire war. His name is Voran 'Sudam, the deadliest Covenant leader during the entire Human-Covenant War."

"'Sudam was the supreme commander of the Fleet of Supreme Justice, words don't describe how dangerous he is. This single Elite has been responsible for the most casualties during the war and the highest amount of Human worlds fallen to him. Thel 'Vadam might have been in the Covenant's spotlight for glory and infamy, but 'Sudam is by far worse than anything 'Vadam did during the war. 'Sudam is responsible for the deaths of more than fifteen billion people, more than half of the twenty three billion casualties Humanity received during the war… He is the embodiment of Hell walking across the universe, with nothing that'll stop his rampage. And one of the worst things about him: he has personally slain dozens of Spartans on the battlefield during the war, most of them were Spartan III's sent on suicide missions against him. Especially during Operation: PROMETHEUS where he was present."

"After the war, 'Sudam became in charge of one of the largest Covenant Remnant factions that we've ever fought since the official end of the Human-Covenant War more than ten years ago. And with new conflicts arising, it feels like the war is not over yet, and it will continue to do so for an unknown amount of time. But until then, the UNSC stands guard against any threat that dares to destroy Earth and all of her colonies. End log." he finished and let a giant breath out.

" _Shall I repeat the recording, sir?_ " the A.I. Apex asked over the intercom.

"No Apex, thank you." the Vice Admiral answered as he looked up. "I'll see you on the bridge."

" _Understood, sir._ "

Marshall walked out of the observation deck and headed towards the elevator to the bridge. As it went upwards, he had a direct view of the planet his ship was over, Naxos Prime. This planet is home to over 4 million people with a huge UNSC fleet guarding it. A highly kept secret much like mother Earth, Naxos is one of the UNSC's most important planets in the Outer Colonies. Naxos Prime was named after the Greek island of Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea on Earth. The planet was a key player for protecting the UNSC's supply lines in the Outer Colonies, most of them heading towards Harvest until the battle was over. Naxos also provided huge amounts of raw materials and resources for everything the UNSC built during the Human-Covenant War, a boost to it's war economy.

With the war over, Naxos Prime has enjoyed an era of prosperity as it was the forefront of reclaiming Humanity's worlds lost to the Covenant and enjoyed the UNSC's detachment of warships, Marines, and other military personnel as security. With the emergence of the Believers stronger than before in the Outer Colonies, Human worlds are on high alert and ready for anything, especially Naxos Prime with her defense forces and fleet. Consisting of over 15 orbital defense platforms, dozens of Charon-class light frigates and Paris-class heavy frigates, multiple Autumn-Class heavy cruisers, and including GA-TL1 Longsword and F-41 Broadsword fighters, Naxos defense fleet made her one of the most protected planets in the Outer Colonies compared to the rest of them.

The elevator made its way towards the bridge of Marshall's vessel, the UNSC " _Harvest_ ", named after the infamous Battle of Harvest, the first battle of the Human-Covenant War and the first planet to be glassed. The Harvest was one of the new Phoenix II-class ships to recently enter service in the UNSC Navy. Taking lessons learned from the original Phoenix-class during the Human-Covenant War, and with advancements in post-war UNSC technology, the Phoenix II-class is a much larger and improved version of the original Phoenix-class. The Phoenix II-class has energy shielding, a crew capacity of 25,000 personnel, improved Titanium-A armor plating, improved engines and slipspace drive, and a larger arsenal of weapons ranging from point defense guns to the new 22B6R3B MAC Battery, an improved version of the original 22B6R3 MAC Batteries that the original Phoenix-class used. Phoenix II-class vessels also have a much larger space for troops, supplies, ground vehicles, aircraft, and a larger number of D81-LRT Condors and D20 Herons for deployments of Firebases on the battlefield.

But that's not all the _Harvest_ has to offer. With a length of 15,000 feet (4572 meters), width of 3,500 feet (1066 meters), and a height of 4,250 feet (1295 meters), the _Harvest_ has a larger troop capacity than what its predecessors had during the war. It's crew consists of 6,000 Naval personnel, 12,500 Marines, 1,500 Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, and 2,500 Army soldiers together along with hundreds of air and ground vehicles to assist a planetary assault force the size of the _Harvest's_.

Marshall walked out of the elevator as it opened and everyone on the bridge stood at attention.

"Vice Admiral on deck!" Apex announced to everyone. The entire bridge saluted to Marshall and he saluted back at them. A few seconds later, everyone went back to their jobs as the Vice Admiral went to the large holotank table in the middle of the bridge with Apex appearing on it. Apex took the form of a famous American WWII admiral, his form was none other than Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas during World War II.

"How's the fleet so far, Apex?" Marshall asked, he walked to the holotank which projected a 3D image of Naxos with the defense fleet in orbit.

"All ships are running at 100% efficiency, sir. Orbital defense platforms have their systems functional and MAC cannons are ready to fire." Apex replied.

"How's the _Infinity_?" the holotank zoomed in onto the UNSC _Infinity_ which was docked at the space elevator to the city of New Warsaw, Naxos Prime's Capital.

" _Infinity_ is almost done stocking up on supplies and equipment for her next mission.'

"And what about our 'guest'? Has be departed yet?"

"Not yet, sir. The Lieutenant is almost done onboard the _Infinity_ , Captain Lasky wants to personally inform him before the Lieutenant and his companion leave for the surface of Naxos."

"Alright then, keep all weapons online and monitor for any suspicious activity." Marshall used his left hand to zoom out from the Infinity and focus on the rest of the fleet.

"Expecting trouble, sir?"

"With the _Infinity_ here we may be safe for now, but when she leaves the Believers might take the chance to do a hit-and-run attack on us, or worse."

"Even if they manage to attack us, can't we just call the _Infinity_ back for help or call one of the other local battle groups for reinforcements?"

"We could Apex, but the _Infinity_ is unlikely to help because her mission is top priority and classified by ONI Section 3, and other local battle groups are currently occupied right now. Naxos fleet is all we have if the Believers ever try to attack us."

"We will give them our best sir, and my calculations suggest that once the _Infinity_ leaves, nearby battle groups should be available to call for reinforcements if we are ever attacked while the Infinity is gone."

"Right, and what about ODST Fireteam Delta?"

"Delta are coming back from their mission at the downed relay outpost outside of New Warsaw. They'll give us a full report once they arrive."

"When they arrive at their destination, get me contact with the Major so I can fully debrief him."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**UNSC Infinity, S-Deck**

The UNSC _Infinity_ was currently docked at the space elevator from New Warsaw to be refitted with supplies for her next mission. Most of the details are unavailable since it was extremely classified by ONI Section 3, but other than that, it was very important. As the _Infinity_ was being stocked on supplies, the defense fleet of Naxos was doing its regular patrol missions around the planet and monitoring any suspicious activity. Meanwhile onboard the _Infinity_ , the Vice Admiral's 'guest' and his companion were finishing up before they departed.

"Well Lieutenant, your armor is good to go!" the scientist announced to the Spartan having his armor being worked. Two other scientists releases the metal arms that were holding the Spartan in place and he stepped off and was in front of the first scientist. The Spartan was wearing the HELLJUMPER-class Mjolnir Gen-2 armor and helmet, the armor was primarily painted steel-black, the top of the helmet had a white stripe down the middle of it and down both sides of the helmet, and a blue visor. His armor resembled traditional ODST armor colors as the Spartan didn't hide the fact that he was a former Helljumper.

"Your armor now has the recent modifications that the brainiacs have made to it, such as more movement throughout the gel layer and some minor tweaks to the armor." the scientist said as the Spartan came towards him. To the Spartan's left, a blue AI appeared from the holotank projector as it took the shape of a woman who looked like she was in her early-20's with long brown hair, a long-sleeve white shirt, blue pants, and fair skin. Her name was Victoria, Serial Number: VCT 0394-8.

"You look nice today, Bridge." she complimented him.

"Thanks, Victoria." Bridge replied to the AI. The Spartan's name, Bridge, it was odd name to say the least for him, but it was unique in its own way. Bridge was currently the only Spartan on the Infinity that had an AI due to most Spartan IV's never having one due to many reasons for security. If the Spartan IV Program had an AI for every Spartan on a mission and they died on said mission, the enemy could use it and it would result in a massive security breach if the enemy could get their hands on one. Bridge had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant for his invaluable actions against the Covenant Remnant only a few months ago and received Victoria, his own "smart" AI, in the process due to his all of the accomplishments he has done since he joined the Spartan IV Program. Captain Lasky himself personally suggested it and gave Bridge Victoria since he was one of the best Spartans the UNSC had besides the Master Chief and other former Spartan II's and III's. And speaking of the Master Chief, he was currently on a mission of his own against the Covenant Remnant in the Outer Colonies.

"Anyway Lieutenant, you know the drill about the rest of your armor and energy shields. If your shields are down, find cover and wait for them to recharge." The scientist said.

"You done with my Spartan here Smith?" a woman in white Spartan Scout Armor with red markings and no helmet joined the conversation. It was none other than Commander Palmer, of course.

"Yes, ma'am." the Scientist named Smith replied. Smith was one of the UNSC's top scientists in the field of Spartan armor, Forerunner Studies, and almost in every field the UNSC had to offer.

"His armor's good Commander, nothing too serious to worry about. You're free to to go Lieutenant. And to give you an update on your new armor, it'll be on the UNSC _Harvest_ with me once the _Infinity_ leaves. You'll really enjoy it, it's a "Return to the Classics" as the brass call it."

"I bet that I will. You know I hate how bulky most of the Gen-2 armor is for the program" Bridge said.

"Lieutenant, Captain Lasky wants to inform you on the bridge ASAP." Palmer informed Bridge.

"Yes, ma'am. Let's go Victoria." Bridge walked over to the holotank Victoria was projecting herself from. He pulled out the AI chip from the back of his helmet with his right hand, the chip was engraved with Victoria's serial number "VCT 0394-8". Bridge held the chip in front of her and she proceeded to touch it with her right hand, disappearing from the holotank and the chip was now glowing with a bright blue in the middle of its circle, indicating Victoria was inside of it. Bridge proceeded to insert her chip into the AI slot from the back of his helmet.

"Good luck you two." Smith finished.

" _Thanks, good luck to you as well, Smith._ " Victoria said through Bridge's armor speakers.

"Follow me, you two." Palmer ordered as she began to walk to the elevators. Bridge and Victoria followed suit behind her as they got into one of the several elevators and headed to the bridge of the Infinity.

"So Commander, what's the _Infinity_ 's mission going to be while we're gone?" Bridge asked Palmer as the elevator they were in kept going upward.

"To cut to the chase Lieutenant, nearby Madras V, the Covenant Remnant have left a trail from one of their recent expeditions, ONI thinks it leads to a massive fleet they're harboring nearby. And they want the Infinity to deal with them with the local battle groups of Madras V."

The elevator stopped going up and came to a halt. It then went right as they were on the same level as the bridge was on. As the elevator went towards the bridge of the Infinity, a full view of Naxos was in front of all three of them.

"Naxos… I haven't seen her in forever." Palmer remarked as she saw the planet.

"Been here before?" Bridge asked.

"Yep, during the war I was stationed here for three months until we shipped out. It was one of the best times I've had before joining the Spartan IV Program. The whole planet is a beautiful piece of art, especially New Warsaw for its magnificent architecture and Little Vilnius for its beauty."

"Well when you think about it for New Warsaw and the Little Vilnius district, it's like a little version of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that they used to have back on Earth." Bridge commented.

" _Bridge isn't wrong._ " Victoria joined the conversation.

"Yeah, it kinda does seem like it now that you said it." Palmer commented.

The elevator finally stopped and the doors opened which revealed the Infinity's bridge. It was busy as always with Captain Lasky looking over the holotank which the Infinity's logistics and equipment were shown. He looked up as he saw the doors open which revealed both Palmer and Bridge.

"Captain Lasky, sir!" Bridge announced as he and Palmer gave a salute to the Captain.

"At ease, Spartans." Lasky ordered as he gave a salute back. Palmer and Bridge stopped saluting as the Captain began to speak again.

"Lieutenant, are you and Victoria ready to depart?" he asked Bridge.

"Yes, sir. Me and Victoria are ready." Bridge replied.

"Good, your new armor is being shipped to the UNSC _Harvest_ as we speak, Smith will be helping you with it after the Infinity departs for her mission. I wanted to personally speak to you before you leave for the surface of Naxos and the Infinity departs."

"I'm all ears, Captain." Bridge replied.

"When you go to the surface of Naxos, you're to head to the Joint Operations Command Headquarters for all Naxos UNSC forces. You'll meet up with two soldiers that you'll be working with from ODST Fireteam Delta, soon after that the Infinity will be underway and Vice Admiral Marshall will soon begin a counter-offensive against the Believers in this sector. Your orders are to help the local UNSC forces in this area and do whatever the Vice Admiral tells you to do while on Naxos or with the defense fleet. And for Victoria, make sure NO ONE gets their hand on her while you two are together or apart from each other. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"The same goes for you too, Victoria."

" _Roger that, Captain._ " Victoria replied.

"Your belongings are also on their way to the _Harvest_ as we speak, Lieutenant. And there's a Pelican ready in the nearest hangar for you." Lasky informed Bridge before one of the crew members on the bridge alerted the Captain.

"Sir, the _Infinity_ is fully stocked on supplies and equipment. We're ready to depart!"

"Thank you Lieutenant." Lasky thanked him before he went back to doing his job.

"Guess that's your queue to leave, Bridge." Palmer said.

"Most definitely." he replied.

"Good luck, Lieutenant." Lasky said his goodbye and shook Bridge's hand.

"You too, Captain. Godspeed." Bridge let go of the Captain's hand and headed to the elevator. Palmer and Lasky saw Bridge enter the elevator as it began to descend downstairs to the nearest available hangar. Palmer then spoke to the Captain.

"You sure he'll succeed?" Palmer asked. Lasky looked at her with a confident face.

"I'm sure of it, he's one of the best Spartans we have in the program right now. And since we've both seen his file and know his past record as an ODST prior to joining, Bridge will get the job done and protect his friends and allies no matter the cost." Lasky replied as he then prepared for the _Infinity_ 's departure.

* * *

**Inside the elevator**

" _It's rare for a Spartan like you to be personally addressed by the Captain back there._ " Victoria broke the silence in the elevator.

"What do you mean?" Bridge asked her.

" _I mean that you're lucky, that's all I'm saying._ "

"So, you're ready for Naxos?"

" _Ready as I'll ever be._ "

The elevator stopped and its doors opened, revealing the hangar. It was filled with mechanics working on aircraft, Scout Warthogs driving about, and Marines and Spartan IV's doing their jobs. Bridge and Victoria walked towards the D77-TC Pelican that was waiting for them. They saluted two Spartan IV's in classic gray and orange recruit armor for newer Spartans in the program.

"Lieutenant, sir!" one of the two Spartans spoke. Both he and his pal stopped and saluted at Bridge, he then proceeded to give a salute back at them.

"At ease, soldier." Bridge stopped saluting and entered the Pelican with the pilot welcoming him and Victoria.

"Ah, Lieutenant! Take a seat and hang on, we're heading to New Warsaw right now." the pilot announced as Bridge entered the Pelican's bay. He took the closest seat to the end of the Pelican on the right side as the doors shut and the Pelican took off. The Pelican flew out of the hangar with Bridge and Victoria getting a view of the _Infinity_ leaving Naxos from the viewing window on the Pelican bay's door. The Infinity made a slipspace jump as they headed toward the surface of Naxos Prime while the rest of the Naxos defense fleet was doing their daily missions.

* * *

**Surface of Naxos Prime, UNSC Marine/ODST Headquarters**

" _Delta 1, give me a status report._ " Vice Admiral Marshall's voice ordered from a holographic computer screen in front of an ODST. The Helljumper's helmet was on the table the computer was in front of him, his armor was standard ODST M61C battle armor with the secondary color on his helmet and armor being a dark blue, most notably his chest piece along with the stripe down the helmet that's usually colored white for most ODST helmets.

"Sir, the Carlsbad Relay Station and local ones nearby had ceased all contact with command unexpectedly yesterday night at 2200 hours, all signals flatlined. Two Marine squads were sent in, and had been declared MIA. Then we, Fireteam Delta, were sent in to figure out what happened. When we were sent in, everyone ranging from civilian to military personnel were KIA. No bullet casings or plasma marks were left, and since then we haven't been able to figure out who did the attack." the ODST, Delta 1, replied. The ODST was a man in his mid-thirties, he had fair skin, brown eyes and hair, and stood at 6' 1.

" _No bullet casings or plasma marks? That 's odd._ " Marshall began to worry. " _What else have you found out?_ "

"Our forensic scientists cannot profile the killers' DNA. And with no available security footage to look over, we have basically run into a dead end."

" _This doesn't sound right. Anyone claimed responsibility yet?_ "

"Negative, sir. No one has claimed responsibility yet. The Office of Naval Intelligence so far thinks that it might be the Insurrectionists from Navarsk."

" _ONI might not be wrong there, Insurrectionists from Navarsk have made smaller bases on other planets nearby in the past, but not on Naxos Prime so far. They don't usually come out this far out of their territory._ "

"Do you think it's the Believers, sir?"

" _That's a far-fetched theory right there, Major, but it's not implausible. The Believers have been known to make small stealth attacks on the Outer Colonies, but they wouldn't dare to attack a planet like Naxos that's too well-defended. And they usually don't pull off missions like this. Either way they could be behind this, but with the lack of evidence of what exactly went down, this might be unsolved for a while. What about the relay stations?"_

"The relay stations have been severely damaged, t'll be awhile before we can get them back online, if we can that is."

" _If they stay down then we won't be able to make long range contact with other UNSC forces or the Infinity at this time due to our distance. We're basically a sitting duck at this point. I'm ordering teams of engineers to get them back online ASAP and see what they can do. In the meantime, I want you and the rest of your fireteam to remain on standby at Evacuation Center Alpha with other Marine units for any possible attack. Naxos is just too damn important."_

"Sir, consider it done."

" _I'll contact you later Delta 1, Marshall out._ " the screen shut off and the ODST looked at the other three Helljumpers in the room with him.

"Do you really think the Believers are behind the attack, sir?" Delta 2, otherwise known as Master Sergeant Caitlyn Duran asked her fireteam's leader, Major Andrew Matthews, Delta 1. Major Matthews was Fireteam Delta's leader, he gets the job done in almost situation and he's a charismatic leader who cares about his teammates.

"It's very likely it was them, Duran." he replied in his general American accent. Duran had an American accent and ancestry much like her leader. She woman in her early 30's with fair skin, blue eyes, brown hair, and stood at 5' 10. She's Fireteam Delta's know-it-all when it comes to electronics and computers, she's a bit of a nerd when it comes to all of that. Her ODST armor was the same as Matthews', but instead of dark blue she had bright red as her secondary color, and her chest piece was not painted.

"I agree with the Major, it's highly possible that the Believers did this attack." Delta 4, Gunnery Sergeant Cledwyn James or "Longbow", as he's known, joined the conversation. Longbow's ODST armor was the Sharpshooter variant of the M61C armor which featured one oversized pauldron on his left shoulder and an O/I optics device that was attached to the helmet. His armor's secondary color was a light green with his chest piece painted the same color along with a stripe across his left shoulder's pauldron in the middle. Longbow was a Welshman in his mid-thirties with light skin, green eyes, black hair, and stood at 5' 11. He was the sniper of Fireteam Delta and is always watching over his teammates backs on their missions together.

"Who cares if it was them, if we get the chance to kick their asses, then we're good." Delta 3, Master Sergeant Viktor Makarovich, or known as "Bear", commented with his heavy masculine and predominant Russian accent. Bear was a man in his early thirties with fair skin, blue eyes, brown hair, and stood at a massive height of 6' 8 compared to the rest of his teammates, you could mistake him for an actual Spartan due to his height. His armor was a custom version of the ODST/UA PPE variant of the M61C armor, instead of one bigger pauldron on the left shoulder, he had it for both shoulders along with a thicker chest piece and leg armor. The armor's secondary color was a dark forest green, resembling the color of the trees in the Siberian forests he used to grow up in. Bear was the Heavy Weapons Guy of Fireteam Delta, and he loved to get into any sort of conflict with those Covenant bastards. He also acts like a big brother towards his fellow brothers and sisters in arms and friends. He's a gentle giant to you when you're on his side, and you won't regret it.

"Well whoever it was, they're going to pay. But for now, we are to follow the Vice Admiral's orders. Let's get moving." Matthews ordered his team.

"What about 5 and 6?" Duran asked him as she grabbed her helmet.

"They're currently on their way to the Joint Operations Command Headquarters to greet and retrieve our new 'guest' to our team. They should be back with us by the time we reach our destination. Now let's move it" Matthews replied after he put his helmet on.

* * *

**Unknown part of space**

**The Believers of the Sacred Faith**

"Ha! Those pathetic Humans don't even know we have cut them off from the entire UNSC!" a blue Elite Minor at a terminal on the bridge of a CSO-class supercarrier. Another one of his Sangheili brothers wearing white Ultra-class armor looked over him and commented.

"They know their relay stations are down, but they don't know the bigger picture of our operation. And with the Infinity gone, we are free to attack them!" After he finished his comment, a high-ranking Elite joined the bridge as everyone bowed their heads to him.

"That doesn't mean it'll be a push-over." an Elite wearing shining silver Zealot-class armor entered the scene.

"'Sudam!" the second Elite bowed his head to him.

"Still, we will annihilate the Humans on their pitiful planet of Naxos. Prepare the fleet to move out!"

"By your orders, sir!" the Elite Ultra exit the bridge as 'Sudam looked at the fleet ready to invade Naxos. It consisted of multiple CCS-class battlecruisers, CPV-class heavy destroyers, one CAS-class assault carrier, and his flagship, the CSO-class supercarrier "Supremacy of Will". Naxos was not going to be so lucky on this day…

* * *

**Naxos Prime**

**Capital City of New Warsaw, Joint Operations Command Headquarters**

**1500 Hours**

It was the middle of the afternoon in the city of New Warsaw as the two other ODST's from Fireteam Delta were making their way up the stairs toward the Joint Operations Command Headquarters for all UNSC and local planetary forces on Naxos. They had their helmets off which revealed their faces and who they were. One was a man and the other a woman. The female ODST was wearing the ODST/UA PPE armor variant, as she was a demolitions expert, and her secondary color was light red with her chest piece painted the same color. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties with blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes, and stood at 5' 9.

Her male counterpart had the regular M61C ODST armor, his armor's secondary color being a light orange with his chest piece not colored. He was in his mid-twenties just like his teammate, had black hair, fair skin, green eyes, and stood at 5' 11. Their names were Izabela Lublin and Jakab Alexander, Gunnery Sergeants of Fireteam Delta. Lublin was the demolitions expert of the team while Alexander was the expert on vehicles. Lublin and Alexander are really great people to hang out with, Alexander was pretty chill but Lublin is uh… a bit hyper sometimes, and Alexander has to deal with her crap. They are also best friends with each other because that's what the Poles and Hungarians do for each other.

"What does our "guest", as the Vice Admiral says, suppose to look like? He can be almost anywhere here." Lublin commented with her Polish accent being very noticeable.

"He said to look for someone named 'Bridge', as he puts it." Alexander said with his Hungarian accent being very noticeable as well.

"Bridge? That's an odd name."

"It is, I've never met anyone named that."

"Other than looking for our new addition to the team, do you think the Believers are behind the attacks on the relay stations?" she asked him as they stopped at the top of the stairs and near the entrance to the building. They looked at each other as Alexander spoke.

"Oh most definitely, and something in me says that something bad is going to happen soon if they went after our relay stations."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but it most definitely will be something very bad..."

Both Alexander and Lublin then turned their heads and saw a massive, seven foot tall killing machine in front of them, it was a Spartan.

"Are you two from Fireteam Delta?" the Spartan asked.

"Yes, sir. Are you Bridge?" Alexander saw the Spartan in front of him stare down at him.

"Spartan Alpha 091, Lieutenant Travis Bridge reporting for duty." the Spartan replied as he saluted to both of them.

"Sir!" Lublin saluted alongside Alexander.

"Nice to meet you Spartan, I'm Gunnery Sergeant Jakab Alexander. This is my teammate and best friend, Gunnery Sergeant Izabela Lublin."

"A pleasure." she nodded her head at him.

"Nice to meet you two. I also have someone else with me. Victoria, say hello to them."

" _Hello there._ " Victoria replied through Bridge's speakers.

"Whoa, you have an AI?" Alexander asked.

"Yep, we've only known each other for two months so far. Upon my promotion Captain Lasky himself personally wanted me to have her, she's a new type of AI that has more capabilities and an extended lifespan than most other AIs."

"Interesting."

"A...I…" What's the A stand for?" Lublin asked curiously.

"Artificial-" Bridge was cut off by her.

"I know what it means, Lieutenant. I'm just messing with ya." she joked.

" _Hmph. For a second I thought you didn't know. But hey, it's nice to make your acquaintance._ " Victoria complimented.

"You too!"

Then suddenly, alarms went off all over the city and loudspeakers were announcing emergency alerts to the population.

"Look, up there!" one of the nearby Marines shouted as he pointed towards the sky.

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest_**

Vice Admiral Marshall and Apex were on the bridge of the _Harvest_ doing their job until they got alerts all over the place.

"Sir! Slipspace rupture detected!" Apex announced as he was at the holotank with Marshall.

"UNSC or Covenant?" Marshall asked. Apex looked up at Marshall with a worried face.

"It's the Believers, sir!" Marshall and Apex looked from the bridge's windows and saw around three or more Believer ships coming out of slipspace.

"Dear God….." Marshall walked away from the holotank and looked at the ships coming out from slipspace..

"What are your orders, sir?" Apex asked Marshall who walked back to the holotank with a determined face.

"Battle stations, everyone!" he ordered as he pressed the red alert button underneath the holotank which everyone with a "Sir, yes sir!" before they went to their battle stations.

"Apex! Alert the entire fleet! And inform Naxos to begin Evacuation Protocol Alpha!"

"Aye, sir!" Apex said before he disappeared from the holotank.

"And get me contact with our Spartan on Naxos!" Vice Admiral Marshall sat in his chair as two of the _Harvest_ 's escort ships, both Autumn-class heavy cruisers, the UNSC " _Reach_ " and " _Arcadia_ " regrouped with the UNSC _Harvest_ for the upcoming space battle...

* * *

**Surface of Naxos Price, Capital City of New Warsaw**

**Joint Operations Command Headquarters**

**Spartan Bridge, Victoria, Alexander, and Lublin**

"You jinxed it Alexander!" Lublin announced as they saw the Believers' fleet come out of slipspace. It was filled with several dozens of ships, more than they could count. Soon after everyone caught sight of the fleet, the entire are was buzzing with UNSC soldiers reporting to their battle stations and taking orders from their superior officers. Bridge then got a transmission from Vice Admiral Marshall himself.

" _This is Vice Admiral Marshall. Lieutenant Bridge, please respond!"_

"This is Spartan 091, reporting in sir!"

" _Welcome to Naxos, Lieutenant. I know we haven't met each other yet, but I have orders for you and Fireteam Delta while I'm up here fighting the Believers' fleet. I want you and Deltas 5 and 6 to head to Evacuation Center Alpha ASAP, get as many civilians off the planet as you can! Defend that city! Marshall out."_

"Yes, sir!" Bridge replied as he looked to Alexander. "I need a weapon."

"Armory's this way Lieutenant, let's go!" Alexander led Bridge and Lublin to the armory. Several Marines, ODSTs, and Army troopers were grabbing guns, grenades, and everything else they needed for battle. Bridge grabbed two M7 SMGs and an MA5C assault rifle, along with two M9 fragmentation grenades while Lublin and Alexander both grabbed two M9 fragmentation grenades and an M7S SMG. Lublin proceeded to grab a M41 SPNKR rocket launcher with Alexander taking an M6S magnum.

"We need to grab a ride if we want to get to the nearest evacuation center ASAP, let's go!" Alexander informed as they exit the armory. The three of them went to the vehicle depot where they acquired an M12BG1 Gauss Warthog.

"I'll drive!" Alexander announced as he put his M7S SMG on his hip.

"Shotgun!" Lublin yelled as she got into the passenger seat with her rocket launcher out. She raced to the vehicle far ahead of Bridge and Alexander.

"Hey Lieutenant, one thing you should know about her is that she always calls shotgun whenever I drive." Alexander said.

"I see, I'll get on the gun." Bridge got on the M68 Gauss Cannon. Alexander got in the driver's seat and started the Warthog as its engine came to life.

"Hey, you guys heading to Evacuation Center Alpha?" the Marine driver of a Warthog asked as he pulled up right next to them.

"Yeah, we are!" Lublin replied.

"We'll follow right behind you! We got you covered!"

"Alright, let's go!" Alexander led four other Warthogs that Marines were driving toward the exit and onto the street where other military vehicles were driving.

" _A Believer assault carrier and a few other ships just flew past the blockade!_ " Victoria announced to the three of them.

"They're going to glass the planet?!" Lublin freaked out.

" _Negative, they are launching a ground assault instead._ "

"Great, that just brightens up our day." Alexander said as he drove past some M808C Scorpion tanks.

" _Bridge! Banshees at 11 o'clock high!_ " Victoria alarmed as a wave of Banshees came down and targeted the Warthogs and Scorpions on the freeway. The Marines, Bridge, and Lublin fired back at the several Banshees and destroyed them as enemy Phantoms passed overhead. Alexander took a right turn in front of the four other Warthogs following them as they made their way to Evacuation Center Alpha with four Banshees following them. As Bridge and the others shot the Banshees, two of them fired their fuel rod cannons at an overhead building, parts of it falling off and crashing onto the freeway and blocking it.

"Shit! Hang on!" Alexander put the Warthog into full throttle and slammed his foot on the gas as debris fell all around them. The other Warthogs followed suit and they barely escaped the debris that would have crushed them to death.

"Major, this is Alexander! Lublin and I are heading to Evacuation Center Alpha with some backup we picked up!" he informed Matthews over the radio.

" _What kind of 'backup', are you talking about Six?_ " Matthews asked. Bridge joined the conversation as he connected his radio to the Major with the help of Victoria and Alexander giving him a thumbs up as he drove.

"This is Spartan Alpha 091, Lieutenant Travis Bridge along with my AI Victoria, serial number VCT 0394-8, reporting for duty sir!"

" _This is Victoria reporting in, Major!_ " Victoria announced.

" _Nice of you two to join us! Are there anymore Spartans on Naxos, Lieutenant?_ "

"Negative, it's only me and Victoria."

" _That's too bad, we're going to need all the help we can get. We're busy defending Evacuation Center Alpha from enemy forces on the ground and in the sky as we speak. We can use some help over here!_ "

" _Roger that major, Bridge and I are on our way with your squadmates!_ " Victoria informed the Major.

" _Roger that, make it quick! We can't hold them off forever!_ "

"The evacuation center is just up ahead! Things are about to get a little bumpy!" Alexander warned as he drove towards a drop off of the freeway bridge.

" _You might want to hold onto something._ " Victoria advised Bridge.

* * *

**On the ground below**

A squad of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites were attacking Evacuation CEnter Alpha's security detachment of Marines. They had them pinned down with sufficient casualties, and they were on the brink of defeat. But one of the Grunts heard a noise coming from somewhere.

"Hey." he tapped one of the other Grunt's backpack.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you hear something?

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" one of the other Grunts in the squad yelled. What he last saw was the bumper of a Warthog that slammed right into his face! The Warthog then slammed into the two Elite Ultras and Jackals while it was playing some kind of Mexican music from the radio as four other Warthogs came and gunned down the remaining grunts and Jackals down.

"Wahoo! Nice driving Alexander!" Lublin complimented on his driving skills.

"Thanks, that's why I'm the expert on vehicles for our fireteam!" Alexander parked the Gauss Warthog with the others as the courtyard of the evacuation center was all clear. Bridge, Lublin, and Alexander got out of the Warthog and entered the building.

"Major, this is Alexander. Lublin and I have arrived arrived with the Lieutenant and his AI!" Alexander informed the Major over the radio.

" _Roger that, we're busy fighting off landing parties and Banshees on the fifteenth floor at the moment! Get topside now!"_ Matthews ordered.

All three of them entered an elevator heading to the fifteenth floor with a squad of Marines accompanying them. They reached the floor and exit the elevator as its doors opened. The room they entered was crammed with civilians, family members were sticking close to each other, orphans were being taken care of, and loved ones were scared of losing their special other. Marines and doctors were taking care of them as evac was coming.

Bridge was the first one to exit out of the elevator which caught the entire room's attention, most of the civilians never saw a Spartan with their own eyes before in real life. Most of them only saw what they looked like from a picture in a magazine article or from the news. Alexander and Lublin followed him with the squad of Marines unloading medical supplies for the injured civilians. Bridge came up to one of the Marines already stationed in the room and asked him where the Major was.

"Where's the Major, Marine?" he asked.

"He's outside down below, on the other side of that hall you'll find him, Spartan." she pointed to her left.

"Thanks." Bridge flipped the safety off of his assault rifle as he led Alexander and Lublin outside to help the Major. They approached the exit with two Marines guarding it, and went onto the ledge outside. Down below, four ODSTs and two squads of Marines were fighting off the Believers from getting inside the building.

"Let's get down there!" Alexander said as he and Lublin went down the stairs as they got closer to their allies. Bridge decided to not do that and instead he fucking jumped off of the ledge with his assault rifle ready. He landed right in front of the Helljumpers and Marines and shook the ground as he landed. Bridge looked up at the Believers' troops and rose from kneeling down after the landing with his assault rifle aimed at them.

"DEMON!" one of the Elites yelled as Bridge ran forward and gunned down several of the Grunts with his rifle. As Bridge reloaded his assault rifle, he tossed a frag grenade at a group of four Jackals, killing them instantly. His assault rifle's ammo counter was at 0 and he switched to his dual SMGs and jumped over one of the Elite Minors, gunning him down as he fell to the ground dead. The Elite Officer in charge ignited his energy sword and swung it at Bridge, only to impale his sword into one of the Elite Ultras as Bridge threw him into his attack. The Elite Officer pulled his sword out of his dead brother and in a furious rage, he charged at Bridge with all of his might. Bridge dodged the attack and climbed onto the Elite's back, pulled his knife out of its holster and shoved it right into the exposed neck of the Elite, killing him instantly.

The Elite dropped dead to the ground as Bridge then gunned down an Elite Ultra in front of him with his SMGs as he tried to charge at him with his sword drawn, only to have his shields drain completely and fall dead. Bridge finally then finished one of the surviving Grunts as he tore his methane mask off kicked him off the building, making the Grunt fall to his death.

Bridge looked back to the ODSTs who saw everything he did. The Marines left as their Sergeant called them over for help on some tasks inside the building. Bridge walked back to them as he saw one of the ODSTs walk up to him, probably was the Major. They stopped and the Helljumper spoke first.

"Nice of you to join us, Lieutenant. I'm Major Matthews, leader of Fireteam Delta."

"Major. Sir." Bridge saluted to him and the Major saluted back.

"Damn, so this is our 'Guest' the Vice Admiral has been talking about." one of the Helljumpers with a SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and Sharpshooter Armor commented.

"Can it, four." Matthews ordered the trooper.

"These Helljumpers are a part of your fireteam?" Bridge asked.

"Yes Lieutenant, and I see that you already met Five and Six so far. That's Duran, Delta Two over there, Bear and Longbow, Three and Four. Everyone else, this is Lieutenant Bridge and his AI Victoria, our new allies that we'll be working with." Bear came forward with his M247H heavy machine gun and set it down in front of Bridge.

"So you're a former Helljumper aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am."

"What unit were you from?"

"The 78th Shock Troops Battalion, First Platoon."

"You were from the 78th?! Well I'll be damned! Glad you're with us, now." Bear shook Bridge's hand as he gave a confident look under his helmet.

"A pleasure."

"Introductions are great and all, but we got a mission to do. Let's go team." Matthews announced as he left. His squad and Bridge followed behind him as they went to a planning room with the building displayed from the holotank. Evacuation Center Alpha was a huge building compared to other evacuation centers due to its importance. The entire building was a fortress guarded by Marines and ODSTs with a large airfield for transports that were currently parked alongside several UH-144 Falcons and D77-TC Pelicans.

"Here's where we are in the building." Matthews pointed the projection to what floor they were on and informed Bridge, Victoria, Lublin, and Alexander. "And I got some good news and bad news. This evacuation center has enough transports to evacuate all survivors from the airfield where the transports are currently parked. Meaning that it's going to take a while to get everyone out of here due to how many people are here."

" _And the good news?_ " Victoria asked.

"That was the good news. The bad news is that the Covenant have occupied the areas outside of the airfield and are trying to set up two AA guns right next to the airfield." he switched the holotank to the areas outside the airfield across the lake separating them. Phantoms were flying in with parts and extra reinforcements.

"They'll tear the transports to shreds if they get set up. They've also been trying to get into the perimeter through the emergency tunnels down below. We've managed to hold them off, but we're ready for a counterattack through the tunnels. If we use the emergency tunnels, we can be able to gain access to the occupied UNSC structure they have where they're setting up those AA guns. We can't fly in, obviously so we'll use the tunnels instead. And I heard that structure has some heavy weapons so make yourselves useful once you've made it."

"Me and Victoria will lead the counterattack." Bridge announced.

"Me and Lublin are with you, Lieutenant." Alexander said.

"Count me in!" Bear yelled as he grabbed his M247H.

"Alright then. Me, Duran, and Longbow will begin loading the transports with local forces here while you four take those batteries out. Let's do this ladies and gents!" Matthews finished as he cocked his BR55 battle rifle.

Bridge and Victoria, Lublin, Alexander, and Bear proceeded to the emergency tunnels via elevator while Matthews, Duran, and Longbow began loading the civilians onto the transports. Marines helped organize the evacuation procedures as they guided the civilians to where they needed to go. The Mari es evacuated the wounded onto the transports first while doctors tend to their care. Meanwhile the other half of the team began their counterattack down below the surface...

* * *

**Emergency Tunnels underneath Evacuation Center Alpha**

The elevator came to a stop as the doors opened to the lower levels of the building. Several Marines had piles of equipment and supplies spread out across the tunnels, missiles were on the sides along with some forklifts and other vehicles abandoned since the fighting started. Bridge came out of the elevator with the others following him to the frontline. Some of the Marines chatted as they saw Bridge walk past them with the ODSTs following him.

"Hey, check it out!"

"No way! A Spartan? Here?"

"Aw man, we're gonna be okay!"

Bridge walked past several barricades and fortifications the Marines have established down here. He came toward a squad of Marines who were on standby at what seemed to be a closed door with their weapons ready. Their Sergeant noticed Bridge and the members of Fireteam Delta right behind him.

"Lieutenant! Major Matthews said you and the other members of his team would be here." he said while he saluted at the Spartan. Bridge gave one back at him in return.

"What's on the other side of that door, Sergeant?" Bridge asked.

"The Believers have sent parties down here, trying to root us out of the tunnels. On the other side of this door leads to where their AA batteries are being installed. We could've attacked them sooner, but there were too many for us to handle. So we abandoned our defensive posts and fell back to here where we got a good defense setup for them here. What are your orders for the counterattack, Lieutenant?"

" _I'm detecting several enemy units on the other side of that door. You know what to do Bridge._ " Victoria informed him.

Bridge looked at the ODSTs and nodded his head at them, telling them to get ready. He took a few steps back and put his assault rifle on his back, proceeding to grab his dual SMGs. The Sergeant was then informed with only two words from Bridge.

"Get ready." Bridge said as he was prepared to meet whatever was on the other side of that door.

"Yes, sir! You heard him Marines, open the door!" the Sergeant ordered his troops. They proceeded to unlock and open the door, revealing three Covenant squadrons.

Bridge ran past the Marines with his SMGs ready, and started blasting as he ran towards the Believers. Bear was to his right with his M247H tearing through the grunts as they scrammed. Lublin was to his left and fired her rocket launcher at the Elites, annihilating them with Alexander right next to her, taking care of the Jackals with his M7S SMG and the snipers with his M6S magnum. The squadron of Marines followed right behind them, giving them covering fire and protecting their rear as they marched to their destination.

After fighting through multiple squadrons of Believer troops, they made it to a secret entrance to the building above them. Bridge took point as he climbed up the ladder and removed the slab of concrete covering the entrance. He climbed out of the hole and saw no one in the room, he checked the next one and saw two Elite Minors guarding the building. Bridge snuck up behind the one to the left and punctured his throat with his combat knife, making his body fall to the floor motionless.

"Brother!" the Elite saw his fellow comrade fall to the floor and ignited his energy sword. He ran towards Bridge and swung his sword, slicing off a piece of his right shoulder's armor and slightly burned him. The Elite tried to swing his sword a second time, but Bridge kicked him back and fired an M90 shotgun he picked up from the floor. He aimed at the alien and fired a second time, killing him instantly. Bridge decided to keep the shot n to replace his dual SMGs.

"All clear!" he yelled down the entrance shaft. Bear, Lublin, and Alexander entered the building as the Marines followed suit. There were plenty of weapons on the ground laying abandoned by the soldiers who were originally stationed here.

" _We should pack some more firepower, we'll need it if we're going to take those guns out._ " Victoria advised everyone.

"Say no more." Bear said as he grabbed an M6 Spartan Laser and equipped it on his back.

Everyone was packing some more firepower with them. Lublin found more M19 102mm surface-to-surface missile ammunition for her rocket launcher, Alexander ditched his M6S magnum and replaced it with an M319 grenade launcher, Bridge grabbed two more frag grenades, Bear got more ammunition for his M247H, and the Marines stocked up on anything else that was in the room. Bridge and Bear exit the building and checked the perimeter, it was all clear. Right in front of the building not far from them was the Believers building their AA guns.

"Okay, here's the plan: Alexander, you're with me. Lublin and Bear, you two focus on destroying the battery to the east. We'll focus on the other. And Marines, split your squad into two and follow us. Everyone got it?" he got multiple positive responses from the ODSTs and Marines.

" _Will this plan work?_ Victoria asked Bridge.

"It'll work."

The two teams split up and they focused on their targets. There was plenty of debris that they used as cover before attacking the Believers. Bridge and Lublin threw frag grenades at highly explosive materials the Believers had, causing chaos among their ranks. Bear's team moved toward the Believers as they were now in a massive firefight. Bridge's team was in the same situation as they took cover from enemy fire.

"Now is coward killing time!" Bear yelled as he mowed down Grunts and Jackals with his M247H.

" _Lieutenant, what's the status on those guns?_ " Matthews asked over the radio.

"We're engaging enemy troops and are trying to destroy the guns as we speak!" Bridge replied as he gunned two Grunts and Jackals down with his assault rifle.

" _Good, we're loading the transports and they're half full. Get the job done fast so we can get these civvies out of here!_ "

" _Understood Major, Bridge and I are on it._ " Victoria said.

"Alexander! Cover me!" Bridge ordered him.

"Roger that, sir!" Bridge vaulted over his cover and ran toward the Believers. He focused on the Elite Officer that was with them, taking his shields down to zero with two blasts from his shotgun and finished him off by pushing him into an Elite Ultra and shot the plasma battery that was next to them, blowing them away and killing them. The Marines and Alexander finished off the scrambling Grunts as their leaders died, causing them to panic. They secured the site as Bear's team was finishing up.

"Waaahhh! WAAAAHHHHHH! WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! AH HA HA HA HA HA! CRY SOME MORE!" Bear yelled as he slaughtered the Believers with his M247H, eliminating most of them. His team finished mopping the rest up and secured the site and regrouped with Bridge's team. But now they got more trouble...

"We got Hunters!" one of the Marines shouted as four Hunters approached them. They all took cover from the Hunters' as they fired upon their position. Bear set his M247H down and equipped his Spartan Laser, aiming it at the Hunters, he managed to kill one of them with Lublin taking out another with her rocket launcher.

" _We're almost done with loading the transports, Lieutenant! Have you taken out the AA guns?_ " Matthews asked.

"Yeah the guns aren't being worked on, but we got a bit of a Hunter problem right now! Send evac ASAP!"

" _Understood, we'll send two Pelicans in once we're done. Just give us a bit more time!_ "

"Phantoms closing in!" Alexander warned as two Phantoms came and dropped off reinforcements. Alexander, Lublin, and a few of the Marines focused fire on them as they tried to hit them from behind. Alexander fired his grenade launcher and eliminated a group of Jackals while Lublin fired a rocket at an Elite's feet, blowing him up sky-high. The Marines focused their fire on the Grunts and remaining Jackals. One of them was shot in the right arm by a Needler round, resulting in her falling to the ground and screamed in pain as one of her colleagues pulled the round out before it could explode and put pressure on the wound with his hands as they were under fire.

Bridge vaulted out from his cover as the Hunters fired upon his position. He ran toward them and pulled his shotgun out. The first Hunter tried to hit him with its shield, but failed as Bridge dodged the attack as the second one charged up its fuel rod cannon. Bridge let the first Hunter try to hit him again, and dodged the attack again. The second Hunter's fuel rod cannon fired as it finished charging and it hit its bond brother's back, leaving a huge chunk of worms missing from its back. Its body fell to the ground right next to Bridge, resulting the second Hunter's eyes to turn into a bright green as it yelled in a furious rage! It charged toward bridge and almost successfully hit Bridge, but he jumped onto the Hunters back, ripped one of its armor plates off, and fired multiple rounds of his shotgun into the back of the Hunter as he held onto it like a bull rider as it tried to shake him off. The Hunter finally stopped and fell towards the ground in front of Bear and the Marines who cheered for him as he rode the back of the Hunter.

"That was fucking awesome, sir!" one of the Marines cheered at Bridge.

" _Lieutenant, the transports are done loading! The skies are clear and they're good to go!_ " Matthews announced as the transports lifted off and headed toward space to their destination with all of the civilians onboard.

" _We're sending two Pelicans to pick you guys up. ETA two minutes._ "

" _Roger that, we'll stay on our highest guard._ " Victoria replied.

* * *

**Naxos Prime's Orbit**

The space battle wasn't going in the UNSC's favor. Despite the assistance of the orbital defense platforms, the Believers destroyed them by using a mass swarm of boarding parties much like the Battle of Earth. The UNSC Harvest and the rest of the fleet were fighting the smaller ships of the fleet as the Believers sent more ground troops to New Warsaw. 'Sudam was on the bridge of his flagship as he coordinated the battle. The UNSC had lost a great amount of ships and he prepared to finish them off, until an Elite Officer came to inform him of the attack on New Warsaw.

"'Sudam, the ground assault is going well. Naxos' cities are under assault and New Warsaw should be ours soon. there is one problem however..."

"What is it?" 'Sudam asked.

"In New Warsaw they got a Spartan as backup!"

"Only one Spartan?"

"Yes sir, only one."

"'Vuran!" 'Sudam called for one of his warriors. An Elite in silver Ultra armor approached him, his name was Zatan 'Vuran.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"Go to the surface, find that Spartan, and eliminate him." 'Sudam ordered.

"Not a job for you, sir?"

"No, I have to deal with the battle up here. Your orders are clear: go to the surface and eliminate that Demon."

"It will be done..." 'Vuran bowed his head and walked out of the room.

* * *

**Naxos Prime's Surface**

Two Pelicans were coming in to pick up Bridge, Victoria, the rest of Fireteam Delta, and the Marine squad that accompanied them. As the Pelicans began to descend onto the beach, four Anti-Air Wraiths and a swarm of Believer soldiers began firing at them. The Pelicans did evasive maneuvers as they were being fired upon. Bridge then got everyone's attention as he was going to buy them time to escape.

"I'm going after the Wraiths, you guys got to get out of here! Get to the Pelicans ASAP!" he announced

"Sir, you're going to-" Alexander was cut off by him.

"I said get to the Pelicans I'll distract the Wraiths! That's an order Helljumper!" Bridge yelled.

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Lublin, give me your rocket launcher." Bridge held his right hand out to her. She gave it to him without hesitation.

"Here you go sir, only two rounds left." she said.

"That's more than enough for me. Now get going everyone, I'll see you on the other side!" Bridge ran out from his cover and charged at the Believers' attention.

"He's sacrificing himself for us?!" one of the Marines asked.

"That's what Spartans do soldier, let's go!" Bear yelled as their Pelicans landed and headed towards them. The Marines got in their own Pelican as Fireteam Delta got in theirs. The Pelicans took off and began heading to the UNSC _Harvest_ in orbit with other military personnel on from New Warsaw.

"Glad to see you guys make it!" Duran complimented as she patted Bear's right shoulder.

"Where's the Lieutenant?!" Matthews asked Lublin, Alexander, and Bear.

"He's still down there! He's bought us time so we could escape!" Alexander replied.

"How big of an army is he facing?"

"A LOT!" Lublin answered.

"Pilot, bring us back around!" Matthews ordered the pilot up front.

"Yes, sir!" she complied with his order.

Meanwhile back to Bridge and Victoria, Bridge finished ripping a Jackal's jaw off and punched him right in the face, killing him instantly. Behind him were at least four squadrons of Believer soldiers, the four Wraiths, and two Hunters. He looked up and saw two Pelicans go space as he and Victoria were still on the ground.

" _Aren't they coming back for us?!_ " Victoria asked nervously.

"They'll come back for us in a bit, hang on."

" _Bridge, I'm picking up movement all around us! Spec-Ops Elites!_ " Victoria alarmed as over two dozen Spec-Ops Elites in their shining silver armor decloaked around Bridge in a circle, surrounding him entirely with their energy swords drawn. One of the Elites stood out with his Zealot-class armor and white energy sword, it was 'Vuran himself.

"Your death will be a quick and painful one, demon! You can count on that!" 'Vuran yelled as he readied himself to attack Bridge.

" _Bridge…_ " Victoria worried.

"I'm NOT letting him get to you, Victoria!" Bridge spoke as he turned off his speakers so the Elites couldn't hear him. He tossed his rocket launcher to the side as it was out of ammo, and grabbed his assault rifle's grip with his right hand. His rifle had a full 32 round clip as he cocked and aimed it at 'Vuran, ready to fight.

'Vuran let out a roar of anger as he charged at Bridge and swung his energy sword at him. Bridge dodged the attack by rolling out of the way, he then crouched and unloaded half of his rifle's entire clip into 'Vuran's shields, damaging them slightly. 'Vuran knocked the rifle out Bridge's hands with his sword, resulting in Bridge kicking his kneecap, knocking him down slightly, and kneed him in his face, knocking 'Vuran's shields to zero. 'Vuran swung his sword at Bridge and successfully hit him, resulting in Bridge's shields going down to zero and taking a huge chunk of his chestplate armor off, alsong with some other plasma burn marks on his armor with his plasma rifle. Bridge shrugged his wounds off as he charged at 'Vuran, knocking him over and his energy sword and plasma rifle out of his hands. He pulled his combat knife out and stabbed 'Vuran's right arm several times until he got Bridge off of him and punched him in the face, but Bridge rolled out of the way and slashed his knife at 'Vuran's face. The knife left a huge mark under his left eye as 'Vurab let out a roar of rage and continued to attack Bridge.

Fireteam Delta along with two Falcons as escort were approaching where Bridge and the Elites were. Matthews and Longbow were behind the pilots as they flew the Pelican to their destination.

"There's the Lieutenant!" Matthews announced as he pointed to where Bridge was.

"Look, he's winning the fight with that Elite!" Longbow pointed out. But Bridge was clearly not winning against the Elite as he had a small energy knife come from his wrist, and smashed Bridge's visor, cracking it severely and knocking Bridge to the ground on his back. After a few more swings and punches, the Elite was kicking his ass in the duel.

"Okay! He's not winning!" Longbow corrected himself. Matthews then gave his team the order.

"Lock and load Delta! We got to a Spartan's favor to repay! Get ready!"

Bridge got back on his feet, the burns on his chest were on fire from 'Vuran's energy sword and his visor was severely cracked both on the left and right side of it. Thanks to its durability he could still see with his helmet on, but not for long as he grabbed his assault rifle and loaded a fresh clip into it. He aimed it at 'Sudam who had something to say to him.

"You're not like your other Spartan brothers and sisters that I've murdered during the Human-Covenant War, demon. You're tougher than I expected, but that doesn't matter! You're life ends here!" he yelled as the other Spec-Ops Elites circled around Bridge, their energy swords ready to strike.

" _Bridge… we're screwed!_ " Victoria alarmed him.

"No Victoria, we're not dying today." Bridge said as the sounds of aircraft were behind them.

"Hey, you split chin fuckers! Say hello to my weapon, Natalia!" Bear yelled at the Elites as he fired his M247H named 'Natalia. Yes, he gave his own gun a name. He focused fire on 'Vuran and the other Elites who were about to attack Bridge with their swords ready to strike. Alexander fired his grenade launcher with Longbow using his sniper rifle as the two Falcons and their gunners gave firing support for them.

"Lieutenant! Get aboard, now!" Matthews motioned with his hand as the Pelican descended for Bridge. He nodded and fired his rifle at 'Vuran, who proceeded to take cover from the Falcon's fire. Bridge ditched his assault rifle and ran towards the Pelican with all of his energy. 'Vuran ran for him and was catching up to him. Alexander came up with a plan as he loaded the last round for his grenade launcher, he fired it and held the trigger down as Bridge came towards it. After Bridge ran past it he released the trigger, exploding it in front of 'Vuran's face and gave Bridge a window of opportunity. He jumped toward the Pelican and grabbed Bear's hand who proceeded to help him up with Lublin.

"We're all aboard! GO!" Matthews yelled at the pilots.

"Roger that, we're getting the Hell out of here!" the pilots put the Pelican into full throttle as its engines roared and took off without warning. The Falcons followed them as they made it to safety from 'Vuran and his Elite colleagues.

"Hey, you alright Lieutenant?" Longbow asked Bridge.

"I've suffered from worse." he replied.

"How can you see in that thing with your visor almost completely smashed?" Duran asked.

"If you ever get your hands on armor like this, you'll be amazed at what you can do once you become a Spartan like me."

On the ground, 'Vuran and his Elites saw the Pelican and Falcons escape with the Spartan. He sheathed his energy sword and gave an order to his Elites,, he knew what the consequences of failure were for him...

"I shall speak with 'Sudam myself..."

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest_**

" _UNSC_ Harvest _, this is Alpha 218. I got Fireteam Delta along with Spartan 091 and his AI onboard, we're ready to land. Over_ " the pilot informed the Harvest's air traffic control.

" _Copy Alpha 218, you're clear to land in hangar 5._ "

The Pelican landed inside the UNSC _Harvest_ as its hangar doors closed with them being the last ones to board the ship as it was trying to escape the Believers' fleet. The Pelican's bay door opened with Fireteam Delta and Bridge exiting the aircraft. A naval officer approached Bridge and Matthews as she had important information for them.

"Major Matthews, Lieutenant bridge, Vice Admiral Marshall needs you on the Bridge ASAP." she informed them.

"Thanks for the information. We'll head to him right now. Let's go Lieutenant!" Matthews left with Bridge to the Harvest's bridge.

The bridge of the _Harvest_ was filled with chatter as the Vice Admiral, Apex, and everyone else with them were trying to survive the battle. The Harvest and her two escorts, " _Reach_ " and " _Arcadia_ ", were retreating with the remaining four Paris-class heavy frigates and Charon-class light frigates, resulting in a total of eleven ships of what was left of the several dozens of UNSC ships against the Believers' fleet. The light and heavy frigates were leading the retreat since they were the weakest with the two Autumn heavy cruisers following them, and the _Harvest_ behind them. Marshall decided to have the _Harvest_ in the back so she could use her heavy energy shields to draw fire from the believers' fleet, giving cover for the much weaker ships up front. Matthews and Bridge entered the room as Marshall was in his chair and Apex was at the small holotank right next to him.

"Major! Lieutenant! Glad to see you here! I'd wish to talk, but their flagship is focusing fire on us! Better find a seat because we're about to make a slipspace jump in a few moments!"

"Aye, sir!" they both replied in unison as they found two chairs and got in them.

"Are we ready to jump, Apex?" Marshall asked.

"Almost ready, sir. Just a few more moments! Shields are down to thirty percent!" he replied as the ship shook from heavy enemy fire.

* * *

 **The Believers'** **Fleet**

"'Sudam, we almost have their flagship!" an Elite Minor informed 'Sudam as he entered the bridge.

"Focus fire on their engines! Don't let them get away! Full power to cannons!"

"Yes, sir!"

'Sudam saw another figure enter the bridge of his ship, the "Breath of Ascension", it was 'Vuran. He kneeled towards 'Sudam and begged for his mercy as he failed at his mission.

"'Sudam, I have failed at my mission. I am not honorable enough..." 'Vuran said in a desperate voice. 'Sudam, knowing him and seeing the duel take place from his ship, knew that it was his fault for failing to kill the Spartan. But instead of killing him, he decided to spare him for his failed mission, after all, 'Vuran was one of 'Sudam's best warriors, the only reason he failed from 'Sudam's eyes was because of the Spartan receiving reinforcements just in time.

"Rise 'Vuran." 'Sudam said. "You are not dishonorable."

"But 'Sudam, I have failed my mission!"

"That doesn't matter for now, for that same Demon will die onboard the vessel he is on momentarily..." 'Sudam looked at the _Harvest_.

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest_**

"Shields are down to twenty percent!" Apex announced.

"Apex! Are we ready yet?!" Marshall asked as the _Harvest_ was sustaining heavy fire from 'Sudam's ship.

"Yes, sir! I'm loading the coordinates of our emergency slipspace jump to the rest of the fleet." the _Harvest_ shook again from a massive plasma round hitting them.

"Apex!" Marshall worried as their shields were getting lower.

"Sir, shields are down to five percent!" one of the officers on the bridge yelled.

"Coordinates set! Jumping now!" Apex announced as the Harvest entered the slipspace along with the rest of the fleet. They barely made it in time as their shields were about to break.

* * *

**'Sudam's Flagship, the "Breath of Ascension"**

The crew saw the UNSC fleet lead by the _Harvest_ escape from them at the last minute. They had them on the ropes and were close to destroying the _Harvest_ and her fleet, but they failed to achieve their goal. Everyone looked at 'Sudam who was too quiet for words, he looked at his crew and gave them a new order

"Let's get out of here until the UNSC take notice of what has happened here. Destroy the rest of Naxos and retrieve the rest of our troops from the surface!" 'Sudam ordered.

"What about the UNSC fleet that escaped us, sir? Shall we follow them?" one of the Elite Minors asked 'Sudam.

"No, we don't want to risk the wrath of the UNSC home fleet, or worse, the _Infinity_. IF they can reestablish contact that is. But since we have already cut them off from the rest of the UNSC that'll be unlikely. Try to track where they could possibly end up at, and finish glassing the rest of the planet, after that lets get out of here. Once the UNSC finds out what we did, they will show us no mercy once they find us."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_**

The UNSC _Harvest_ was currently in slipspace as everyone let out a sigh of relief knowing they are safe for now. Marshall got out of his chair and approached Matthews and Bridge who also got out of their seats. He greeted them and shook their hands.

"Nice to see you two. You saved a lot of lives today on Naxos. We couldn't have done it without you two." he congratulated them.

"Thanks, sir. It was our duty to save them." Bridge replied.

"Apex, how many civilians did we save today?" Marshall asked Apex who was projecting himself from the holotank in the middle of the room.

"With combined efforts on the ground from all evacuation centers, a total of 500,000 out of New Warsaw's population of 550,000 were saved. For the rest of Naxos, most cities have evacuated most of their populations, except for the other major cities surrounding new Warsaw who have suffered major losses, both civilian and military." he replied.

"If it wasn't for the Lieutenant here, my fireteam and the other forces at Evacuation Center Alpha wouldn't have succeeded in our mission. And I thank him for that." Matthews thanked Bridge while he had his helmet off.

"You're welcome, Major." Bridge said as he nodded his head in approval at Matthews.

"Well, we all got time to take a breather for a little bit. Major, your fireteam deserves some R&R for their hard work. That's an order." Marshall told Matthews. The Major saluted and left the room, leaving Bridge and Victoria left with Apex and Marshall.

"And Lieutenant?" Marshall spoke to him.

"Yes, Vice Admiral?" Bridge asked.

"You uh... might want to get some new armor on because you know, yours is severely damaged." Marshall saw the missing chunk of his chestplate, the enormous crack on his visor, and the several plasma marks from his fight with 'Vuran.

"I most definitely will, sir." Bridge replied.

"Do you have your AI with you?" Marshall asked.

" _Yes, I'm here._ " she replied.

"Good, glad to see that she hasn't fallen into enemy hands. Now get something new to wear Lieutenant, and I'll see you later once we're out of slipspace."

"Aye aye, sir." Bridge left the room with Victoria as Marshall got back into his chair and closed his eyes, relaxing for a moment. Apex switched to the holotank right next to him and Marshall spoke to him.

"Do you think we'll reestablish contact with the UNSC once we're out of slipspace, Apex?"

"Extremely unlikely, sir. With the Believers knocking out our communications from the rest of the UNSC from Naxos, we probably won't be able to contact any nearby UNSC planet once we're out of our emergency slipspace jump. We will be out of contact and stranded. And with the updated Cole Protocol in effect for Naxos, we couldn't jump to any UNSC world since the Believers would follow us. Thankfully from my statistics and calculations, they aren't following us."

"That's a good thing to hear. We got 20,000 people aboard this ship, and I don't want the UNSC to send over 20,000 caskets for their funerals." Marshall said.

"But who knows where we'll end up at? Only time will tell what destination we end up arriving at, Vice Admiral." Apex finished as they watched the _Harvest_ go through slipspace.

* * *

**Unknown Destination**

Underneath an unknown planet's surface, it was all quiet for over a few dozen millennia. No lifeforms from above the surface knew that it existed for all these years since the planet's creation, hiding beneath the surface. With all these years of minimal activity, something happened… A glyph glowed a bright blue as it shined. Translated from an ancient civilization's language that's been extinct for a long time, it read: "Reclaimer"... A floating orb flew toward the symbol and observed it with its one glowing eye. The orb then spoke one word after realizing what was happening.

"Reclaimers…" it said in awe as the glyph continued to shine in the darkness.


	2. Arrival

**Hey everyone, it's me SuspectNutria again. Glad to see you're all enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to do so. Anyway, enjoy the second chapter!**

**Last of the Brave**

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest,_ Hangar 5B**

**March 28, 2563; 18:57:00, UNSC Standard Time**

The UNSC _Harvest_ was still in slipspace for some time after its crew barely escaped the Believers. Its shields were almost broken, but thankfully the crew had minimal casualties, no losses have been accounted for thanks to the Harvest's advanced shielding technology. Everyone was having some R&R from the battle as the ship was reaching its destination. Bridge was getting his new suit of armor with Victoria and the members of Fireteam Delta were doing their own thing.

Lublin was currently in Hangar 5B, sitting on a supply crate near the hangar doors. She had her helmet off and grabbed something she wore around her neck. The object she wore around it was a crucifix, decorated in a shining gold and silver. It looked like it was brand new, but it was actually more than over 600 years old, a prized family possession that brought good luck to her family and ancestors. Her ancestor who fought in the Second World War enlisted in the Polish Army wore it as a good luck charm from the Blitzkrieg all the way to the end of the war when the Japanese Empire finally surrendered. Because her family was a deeply religious Roman Catholic family, they've kept that single crucifix in condition for over 600 years. Since then, all of her family members have worn it when they joined the military, her included.

She held the crucifix with both of her hands and had her head down as she whispered in Polish.

"Przykro mi..." Lublin said.

(Translated: "I'm sorry…")

Lublin prayed for a minute until she heard someone come from behind her. She immediately knew who it was as she turned around. It was Alexander, Delta 6, of course.

"Hey, you alright?" he got no answer from her. "Izabela?" he called her by her first name. Both of them call each other by their first names when off duty, and by their last names when deployed on missions and other various assignments.

"What, Jakab?" she asked. Her voice sounded uneasy.

"I just want to see if you're okay."

"Why should you?"

"Because I sincerely care about you as your longtime friend?"

"Fine, I'll tell you. Only if you don't tell anyone."

"I promise." he got up on the crate she was on and sat next to her. Alexander had his helmet off and looked at Lublin who had her crucifix in her hands.

"What's causing you to be so blue right now?" he spoke to her.

"You want to know the reason why I'm having a rough time right now?" she asked him.

"Why?"

"I just wished we could have saved more civilians in New Warsaw. It used to be my home for my entire life, up until the Believers invaded it. And with reports of the last holdouts of UNSC resistance on Naxos being glassed, Naxos is no more… I… I just wished it wouldn't happen…" Lublin let out a single tear from her right eye which Alexander saw.

"Here." he gave her a tissue from one of his pockets.

"Thanks." she wiped her eyes.

"Look, Izabela. It's nobody's fault that they attack your home planet. We were outnumbered, and there was nothing we could do to stop that."

"I never said that it was anyone's fault. I just wish that I could have done better… When I checked the logs for those who survived the first glassings before we escaped, I looked for my family in there, and they weren't registered for any of the flights. I called everyone of them. My parents, older sister, and two younger brothers who were just about to graduate from middle school. And from everything that I've done so far, it's been confirmed... they're gone forever…" she finished.

Alexander was about to speak and comfort her, but before he could do anything, Lublin immediately hugged him and started leaking tears. She was crying real hard as she lost the rest of her entire family that survived the Human-Covenant War. Alexander didn't know what to do right now, so he just put his arms around her as she continued to cry. Lublin slowed her crying down and Alexander finally spoke again.

"They would be proud of you right now, Izabela." he put her hand on her shoulders

"How do you know, Jakab?" she raised her head.

"As someone who lost their entire family during the Human-Covenant War, I know what it feels like. You shouldn't mourn their deaths because you weren't there to save them. I couldn't save mine when the Covenant invaded and glassed Reach… I'm sure your family up in Heaven right now are happy that you saved countless amounts of lives on Naxos Prime back there. The Lord himself is happy after seeing what you did to save everyone with us."

"You really believe so?" she asked.

"I do believe so, Izabela. I sure do." Lublin stopped her crying and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks, Jakab." she hugged him one last time.

"You're welcome." he embraced her and let go afterwards.

"What are the others doing right now?"

"The rest of our fireteam were getting some rest just about an hour ago, and the Lieutenant and his AI are getting his new armor with help from Professor Smith."

"Where's the rest of the fireteam now?"

"They're waiting on the Lieutenant finishing up on getting in his new armor. We should meet up with them."

"Alright, I'm in. Let's go, Jakab." Lublin jumped off the crate with Alexander and regrouped with the rest of their fireteam.

* * *

**15 Minutes Later…**

**Fireteam Delta**

**One of the _Harvest_ 's many armories**

The rest of Fireteam Delta were in one of the armory rooms right next to a door where Bridge, Victoria, and Professor Smith were working on Bridge's new armor. Matthews was standing at attention, Duran was messing with one of her electronic gadgets, Longbow was observing different sniper rounds, and Bear was cleaning his M247H, "Natalia" as he calls it. Alexander and Lublin soon entered the room as Matthews caught their attention.

"Where have you two been?" he asked them.

"We were just in one of the hangers." Alexander replied, trying to lie that Lublin cried not too long ago.

"Please do not tell me you two just stood around and talked during that entire time."

"Spoiler alert, yeah we kinda did." Lublin replied to Matthews, going along with Alexander's plan.

"Seems that's what you two always do in your free time, it's just standing around and talking."

"That's not really a problem, Major. Everyone does that in their life when they're bored." Duran joined the conversation.

"She's right." Bear said.

"When do you think the Lieutenant will be finished, sir?" Longbow asked Matthews.

"In a few minutes or so as the Professor said."

* * *

**Lieutenant Bridge, Victoria, and Professor Smith**

**The room right next to the armory**

"Alright Lieutenant, all set?" Smith asked as he took his mask off, revealing his face. Smith was a man in his mid-40's, had tan skin, brown eyes, and black hair. Bridge walked towards him and spoke.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Bridge was in his new Spartan ODST set of armor with its primary color being steel black and the secondary being silver gray. He had the helmet in his hands and looked at it. The helmet was painted the exact same colors as the armor along with a silver visor instead of his old blue one, and a UA/CNM attachment on it. His new helmet looked exactly like the older Mark V ODST helmet for the Spartan III Program along with the armor, but it was now updated for the Spartan IV Program and ready for use.

Bridge looked at the visor of the helmet as the light from the room shone off its surface. He could also see his 23 year-old face from the shining visor, revealing that he had fair skin, blue-green eyes, and dark brown hair in a crew cut. Bridge flipped the helmet around, revealing the back of it. He saw the AI slot in the back of the helmet which glowed a bright blue, indicating that Victoria was already inside of it. His right hand ran over the AI slot as he remembered what Captain Lasky ordered him to do: protect Victoria at all costs.

Smith then opened the door to the armory as Bridge put his new helmet on. His hud lit up as the energy shield bar showing up at the top of the visor showed up, making the classic recharge noise as his shields came to life. And the radar showed up in the bottom left of his visor, glowing with yellow dots which were his allies, Fireteam Delta. Smith came through first and motioned with his hands at the Spartan as he stepped out of the light and approached all of them. His new armor was shining in glory as he stood right in front of Fireteam Delta.

"How do I look?" Bridge asked all of them as he towered over them. He got no responses as they looked in awe for a few seconds until Duran spoke up.

"You look way better than your smashed up piece of junk from earlier." she broke the silence

"Not going to lie Lieutenant, you look like a proper ODST than a Spartan with that armor on. Congratulations." Bear said as he gave Bridge a high-five.

"What you look like is a badass, that's for sure!" Lublin commented.

"Thanks, everyone. If you were in the Spartan IV Program and you got to know more about me, you'd learn that I don't like how bulky and unnecessarily large some of the armor is. The current HELLJUMPER-class for Gen-2 Mjolnir, my older armor, was not my exact taste. But this is what I call some proper armor!" he showed off his armor and pulled out his combat knife and flipped it around as he went into an attack stance.

"Heh, some soldiers may mistake you for a Helljumper if they've never met a Spartan before." Longbow joked.

"Well, I still consider myself an ODST while also being Spartan since I've always worn ODST-inspired Spartan armor and I've worked with Helljumpers, like you guys, on numerous missions." Bridge said as he put his knife back in its holster on the upper left side of his chest. On the upper right side of his chest was three bold white numbers: "091", Bridge's number with the UNSC logo above it.

"Helljumper or Spartan, we're glad to be working with you, Bridge." Matthews gave him a friendly handshake.

"Thank you, sir. I'm glad to meet the finest ODSTs I've worked with throughout my career as a Spartan."

"If you don't mind me interrupting." Smith spoke up. "Your armor is fully operational, Lieutenant. If you ever break it like your former armor set, we got plenty of spare parts for this one. Now if you don't mind me, I'll be on the bridge with Apex. Goodbye everyone." Smith left the room as they said goodbye to him.

" _So, what now?_ " Victoria asked.

"How about we all get something to eat since we haven't had anything for a while now?" Alexander suggested.

"Yeah, sure." Longbow agreed.

"Count me in!" Lublin punched Alexander's left shoulder in a friendly manner.

"Why the Hell not?" Duran got up from her seat.

"Same here." Bear put his gun away.

"Alright then Fireteam Delta, it's settled then." Matthews announced.

"Want to come with us Lieutenant?" Alexander asked Bridge.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry. Victoria and I have some stuff to do in the meantime anyways. You can go without us." Bridge replied.

"Alright, well if you need us we'll be in the mess, sir!" Fireteam Delta then left the armory with Bridge and Victoria getting to work on the tasks they needed to do.

* * *

 **UNSC _Harvest_ 's ** **Bridge**

**March 29, 2563; 09:35:00 UNSC Standard Time**

"Good morning, Professor." Marshall said Smith as he entered the bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_.

"Hello, Vice Admiral." Smith said as he put his data pad on the holotable right next to Apex who was projecting himself. "Just look at it…" Smith showed Marshall what was in front of them, an unknown planet with a shattered moon. It was a fascinating sight for all of them to see.

"Where the Hell are we, Apex?" Marshall asked Apex, who was still at the holotable with a projection of the planet in front of him.

"I actually don't know, sir. It looks like we've stumbled upon an unknown planet to the galaxy. Nothing from any UNSC records have any information about this planet." Apex replied.

"Well if we have indeed discovered a new planet…" Smith went to the holotable and made the projection of the planet larger for Marshall. "We'll need to find out more about this planet. Me and Apex have already done tests and the air on this planet is breathable for us. So our troops won't need a limited supply of oxygen if they're ever deployed to the planet's surface. And if we-" Smith

"Vice Admiral Marshall, sir! We're receiving a signal from the surface! It's UNSC!" one of the officers alerted.

"Put it through, Lieutenant!" Marshall ordered.

"Sir, yes sir."

The holotable projected a wavy line that floated as audio began to play.

"This is the UNSC " _Shadow's Keep_ ", ONI Flight 13, Winter-class Prowler." the announcer said. "We are - _static-_ severely outnumbered and _-static-_ got wounded! Any UNSC forces out there, New Cole Protocol, Article 18 is in effect! Repeat, New Cole Protocol, Article 18 is in effect!" the audio cut off with a large roar heard in the distance.

"Flight 13? Apex, what was the status on all ONI flights that left Naxos Prime before we departed?" Marshall asked.

"Sir, all ONI flights made it to their destination on schedule. Except for Flight 13 of course, they were reported MIA. Looks like we just found them here." Apex replied.

"Vice Admiral, sir? What exactly do they mean by "New Cole Protocol, Article 18 is in effect"?" Smith asked.

"Well Professor, UNSC HIGHCOM issued a new set of rules for the Cole Protocol with ONI. Article 18 of the New Cole Protocol states: "In the case of near death, if any ONI superior officer must activate Article 18 into effect, all local UNSC forces must retrieve the crew to safety. If the crew are KIA, they must destroy their ship and all records and data of the UNSC and Earth onboard." That's the short version for your answer, Professor. It's only for emergency cases such as this one." Marshall replied.

"Well why can't we just retrieve the data for ourselves so we can use it?"

"Well if we did use that information for ourselves in our situation and ONI found out about it later, they would… _ahem_ … "force us" to end our own lives, if you get what I'm saying." Marshall hinted at ONI and their shadiness when dealing with their loose ends and enemies.

"Oh, I see…" Smith stopped talking as he knew how ONI… "dealt" with their opposition by forcing them to kill themselves via suicide under severe pressure.

Marshall pressed a button which connected him to Bridge. "Marshall to Bridge."

" _Reporting, Vice Admiral._ " Bridge replied over the intercom.

"Get yourself and Victoria ready and prep a search and rescue party with light vehicles. Professor Smith will send you the coordinates." Smith sent Bridge the coordinates from the holotable as Marshall continued to brief him. "Find out who's been sending that signal. Be on the ground ASAP, travel light."

" _Roger that, sir. Search and rescue only._ "

"Well Professor," Marshall cut the communication to the Spartan and looked at the planet's surface from the front of the bridge. "let's see that kind of world we've come across."

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest_ , Hanger 11A**

Bridge along with Victoria were preparing the search and rescue party with the squadrons of Marines that were assigned to them. Two flights of six Pelicans were currently attaching an M12B Warthog for each one as the Marines got their gear from the barracks. Bridge already got the gear he needed, an MA5C assault rifle and BR55 battle rifle, two M9 frag grenades, extra ammo clips, and his M11 combat knife.

The search and rescue party was about to leave until Alexander and Lublin approached Bridge from behind.

"Hey Lieutenant!" Alexander shouted.

"We're coming with you." Lublin announced.

"Um, shouldn't you inform the Vice Admiral and the Major?" Bridge asked.

"We already did, and they're cool with the both of us coming with you on your mission. You'll need some help afterall." Alexander replied. Both of them had an M7S SMG and M9 frag grenades with Alexander having a BR55 battle rifle and Lublin having an M41 rocket launcher as their weapons for the trip.

"Alright then, welcome aboard and hop in. We're leaving now." Bridge got in the Pelican with the two Helljumpers right next to the Marines and their superior officer, the one and only Master Sergeant Chips "Flood-Hunter" Dubbo! Their Pelican soon took off with their Warthog and left the hangar with the other two flights of Pelicans with them. Meanwhile in the hangar, several vehicles such as M808C Scorpions and M-145D Rhinos were being worked on. Along with a very small amount of M850 Grizzlies and AC-220 Vultures, two of the most powerful, yet very expensive pieces of the UNSC's vehicle arsenal, were also being worked on for maintenance.

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_**

"Professor Smith, any update on the signal?" Marshall asked Smith who was working at the holotable with Apex.

"I've narrowed it down to a small sector that our search and rescue teams can investigate once they're on the ground. Apex cleared up the scans and the crash site seems to be at some end of a canyon gulch in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't look good, but Bridge and Victoria will handle it, they always get the job done together." Smith replied.

"Bridge, get your team to the Professor's coordinates, ASAP. I want you to make contact with whoever is sending that signal, if they're still alive that is."

" _Understood sir, we'll find our lost allies._ " Bridge replied.

* * *

**Surface of the Unknown Planet**

**10 Minutes Later…**

"Harvest _Actual, I'm approaching the drop zone with Fireteam Delta. Standby for drop Delta._ " Alpha 218 replied as her Pelican descended. She released the Warthog as Bridge, Alexander, and Lublin got out of the Pelican's bay and she took off with the Marines still inside and closed the bay door in the back.

"We're looking forward to stretching our legs out, sir." Bridge informed the Vice Admiral as his feet touched the ground. The environment around them was a green forest with birds, small animals, and some deer living out their daily lives.

"Ah, it feels good to have our feet back on the ground again, doesn't it, Alexander?" Lublin asked as she stretched and looked down at her boots.

"You saw this planet from space, Lublin. There's nothing we know about it." Alexander replied as two AV-14 Hornets flew past near them.

"Alexander is right, we don't know who or what is waiting for us down here. Keep your eyes and ears open for any kind of trouble, stay sharp." Bridge ordered as he manned the Warthog's M46 Vulcan chaingun on the back. Lublin got in the passenger's seat with her rocket launcher out as Alexander entered the driver's seat and ignited the Warthog's engine.

" _I've marked a waypoint on your HUDs, everyone. Let's get going._ " Victoria informed them.

"Wait, you can do that with us Helljumpers as well?" Lublin asked.

" _Yes, since I have more capabilities than most other Smart AI, I can also interact with your helmet's VISR system from Bridge's armor. That is if you're near us, of course._ _Now let's get going._ "

"Alright everyone, here we go!" Alexander stepped on the gas and the Warthog's engine roared as it moved towards their objective. The Warthog drove through the forest as they came upon a squadron of Marines who discovered something. Alexander stopped the Warthog and Bridge got off the chaingun and approached their superior officer.

"Lieutenant, sir! We found something, take a look." the Marines' Sergeant handed Bridge a sort of lanyard with a name tag on it. It belonged to someone at ONI Section 3 with their face and name on it.

"This isn't a good sign, Marines. Check the surrounding area for any possible survivors." Bridge ordered.

"Roger that, sir!" Bridge got back on the chaingun of the Warthog and his team were on their way towards the signal. After they drove for quite a while, Alexander stopped the Warthog as an EV-44 Nightingale and two AV-14 Hornets flew over them.

"What's a Nightingale doing here? Do we have wounded?" Lublin asked. Alexander followed the aircraft as they made their way to their destination. They came upon a crashed Pelican with both its wings having chunks missing and ripped apart. The landing gear was busted and the rest of the Pelican's body looked like some kind of big birds attacked it. Upon closer inspection it was Alpha 218 with the Marines onboard.

Alexander stopped the Warthog for a second time with everyone getting out of it and inspecting the crash site where a squadron of Marines were evacuating the survivors. The Marines had two Nightingales four Hornets in the air and four Warthogs on the ground as support while two other Pelicans and a D81-LRT Condor were also on their way to the crash site. Bridge approached Sergeant Dubbo who survived the crash as one of his Marines was helping him walk.

"Lieutenant, sir! We don't know what hit us, but all we know when we were under attack was that some kind of large animal no larger than the Pelican attacked us without warning. No KIA's thankfully, but both pilots are lightly injured, I got one man unconscious, and another three wounded, including myself." Dubbo told Bridge with his Australian accent being very noticeable.

"Sergeant, get your squad back to the Harvest for immediate medical attention! We'll handle the situation!" Bridge ordered him.

"Aye, sir! Be careful out there!" Dubbo, with the help of one of the non-injured Marines in his squad, made it to one of the two Pelicans that arrived to evacuate them. The Condor hovered over the crashed Pelican with Marines on the ground attaching heavy lifting gear and straps onto it. Bridge, Lublin, and Alexander got back in their Warthog and proceeded towards the source of the signal.

"Looks like we'll get to see some action after all." Alexander commented.

As they continued to drive toward the signal, the Condor lifted the crashed Pelican off the ground and headed toward the Harvest with the other two Pelicans evacuating the survivors. The Condor was delivering the crashed Pelican to the _Harvest_ so it can be repaired and put into surface once again. Bridge and his team made their way towards an entrance to a canyon as four other Warthogs and two Hornets followed them.

" _Bridge, our recon teams have scouted out this canyon that will lead you to the ONI Prowler's signal. I've ordered the rest of our forces to stay back and protect your exit while you investigate._ " Marshall informed him.

"Yes, sir." Bridge replied. They entered the narrow entrance of the canyon which led to an open gulch. They followed Victoria's directions which led them to the missing ONI Prowler's crash site, it did not look good as it crashed into the end of the gulch.

" _We made it, that's our missing ONI Prowler._ " Victoria notified them.

" _Harvest_ , this is Lieutenant Bridge, we made it. Looks all clear outside. We'll proceed with caution." Bridge informed them.

"Let's see who's been trying to call us." Lublin said as she got out of the passenger seat and equipped her M7S SMG along with Alexander. Bridge raised his MA5C assault rifle as he led them to the Prowler. There were bodies of the Prowler's 5-man crew were lying outside of the ship, some of them were disfigured and mutilated like some kind of animals ate them. Alexander saw a woman's body ripped in half with her organs spilling out from the top part of her ripped body as she lay on the ground motionless. Her intestines along with her lungs and heart were the most noticeable as a large puddle of blood surrounded the body.

"Eugh! That's not right!" Alexander almost threw up in his helmet as he tried to resist. Three more bodies were outside the Prowler as they were about to enter the ship, some were also mutilated by some kind of wildlife before they arrived.

"I'll take point." Bridge turned on his lights right next to the speakers on the side of his helmet as he entered the dark ship. His lights lit up the hallway as Alexander and Lublin turned on the VISR mode for their helmets, highlighting Bridge in green and illuminating the ship's structure. They made their way the bridge of the Prowler as Alexander pointed out a holotank with a body over it

"Holotank, 10 o'clock." Alexander pointed out. Bridge removed the body from laying on the holotank and gently laid it on the ground. He then removed Victoria's chip from his helmet and inserted it into the holotank with her avatar illuminating the room in a bridge blue.

" _Harvest_ , this is Lieutenant Bridge. There are no survivors out of the 5 crew members, all KIA. Beginning the removal of all UNSC intelligence and wiping the ship's memory logs clean. We'll initiate the self-destruct once we're done. Bridge out." Victoria started to wipe all systems and memory logs clean as the others protected her. She was almost done until they heard a loud roar outside.

"What was that?" Alexander asked as more roaring was heard from outside the Prowler.

"Done! I've initiated the self-destruct, t-minus 2 minutes. Let's get out of here!" Victoria announced. Bridge quickly took her chip from the holotank and inserted it into the AI slot in the back of his helmet. He motioned with his fingers that he'll go first, and exit the Prowler.

Bridge stepped out of the Prowler and checked his surroundings, he didn't get anything until he caught something from his HUD. A red blimp on his radar was approaching him from behind. He quickly turned around and he was thrown back into the trunk on a tree. What attacked him was a giant Bear-like creature with black fur, red eyes, and white bones for armor. The creature soon exploded as Lublin fired her rocket launcher at it.

"You alright, Lieutenant?" she asked him as he got back up.

"I've suffered from worse." Bridge replied. All four of them then saw the creature disappear into thin air as its corps was lying on the ground dead.

"Umm… did everyone else see that?" Alexander asked. Bridge then found another one of the same kind of Bear creature and unloaded half of his assault rifle's round into its head, it's body disappearing after it laid on the ground dead.

" _Odd, it seems these creatures' bodies disappear once they're dead. Interesting… nothing from any UNSC records show that a species like this has been discovered._ " Victoria informed them. After the creature's body finally disappeared, a large amount of roars were heard and a bunch of creatures like the ones they face approached them. Some looked like a werewolf-like creature and a giant crow-like bird was following them. Bridge got on the chaingun as Alexander started the engine and Lublin was ready to fire her rocket launcher.

"Alexander, get us out of here!" Bridge ordered.

"Roger, sir!" Alexander stopped on the gas with Bridge firing the Warthog's M46 Vulcan chaingun at the creatures that were now chasing them, especially the big bird creature in the sky. Bridge guessed that creature was the reason Alpha 218 was downed earlier, they were most likely attacked by it. The ONI Prowler behind them blew up as they drove toward the entrance of the canyon.

" _Harvest_ , this is Bridge. Mission accomplished, all records of the UNSC and ONI intelligence has been eliminated. We're currently under attack by these creatures, can you send a flight of Hornets to help us?"

" _Roger that Lieutenant, air support is on the way._ " Marshall replied. As they drove near the entrance of the canyon, a flight of six Hornets gunned down the giant bird and killed it. It's body slammed into the cliff side before it disappeared, starting a rockslide. Alexander slammed his foot on the gas as the rockslide almost blocked them in, but he managed to drive past the rocks before the creatures were squashed to death by them.

"We're going to need immediate evac before more of these creatures attack us again. Can you send the Pelicans to pick us up?" Bridge asked the Vice Admiral.

" _Negative Lieutenant, we can't send our birds in until they have a good landing zone to pick you up. There's a good area just south of your position, clear the LZ and hold it until our birds can come pick you up._ " Marshall replied.

"Understood, sir. We'll make our way there." Alexander stopped the Warthog as they made their way to the Marines and two Hornets guarding their exit.

"Alright leathernecks, listen up!" Bridge gotta get out of here before more of these creatures attack us unprovoked. We're heading south to create an LZ so our Pelicans can pick us up! Everyone got it?" Bridge asked them.

"Oorah!" the Marines replied as the got in their Warthogs. The four other Warthogs followed Alexander as he made his way to the LZ with the Hornets flying over them. Once they arrived at the LZ, they made a ring with the five Warthogs with the Marines using them as cover. Their gunners stayed at their stations except for Bridge who got off the gun.

"Alexander, take the gun!" Bridge ordered him as he stepped out of the driver's seat.

"Copy that!" he replied as he manned the chaingun. Bridge and Lublin used their Warthog for cover as more of the black creatures approached them with ferocity.

"Here they come, soldiers!" Bridge alerted as he raised his battle rifle. As the creatures came into range, Bridge fired his battle rifle with everyone following suit.

Several of the creatures fell as a hail fire of bullets and explosives was unleashed at them. The Werewolf creatures fell first since they were in the front with the bear-like ones behind them. Another horde was approaching them, this time it was much larger consisting dozens of the creatures, along with a new Mammoth-kind of creature with huge bone tusks and thick skin.

" _Harvest_ this is Bridge, requesting danger close upon our position!" Bridge requested as he threw a grenade, killing two of the creatures.

" _Roger that, Bridge. Archer missiles inbound._ " Marshall replied. Up from space, the UNSC _Harvest_ fired six Archer missiles, making their way to the surface. As the battle between UNSC forces and the creatures was ongoing, the Archer missiles fell in front of Bridge's Warthog and toward the creatures in a volley of destruction, annihilating everything in its path. All of the creatures died as the Archer missiles destroyed them as five Pelicans flew in.

" _Lieutenant Bridge, this is Bravo 38. We're coming to extract you guys, is the LZ clear?_ "

"Affirmative, the LZ is clear!" Bridge replied.

" _Then hop onboard, let's go!_ "

"Alright Marines, get to the Pelicans and let's get out of here!" Bridge ordered them. All five Pelicans had their bay doors open with the Marines entering them. Bridge, Alexander, and Lublin entered the Pelican that picked up their Warthog along with three other Marines. The rest of the Pelicans attached the Warthogs to the back of them and took off for the _Harvest_.

" _Bridge, I want a full report from your team about these creatures once you arrive to the_ Harvest _. The Professor, Apex, and I will meet you on the bridge._ " Marshall informed Bridge.

"Understood, sir." Bridge replied as their Pelican took off.

* * *

**0100 Hours Later...**

**Bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_**

Bridge, Victoria, Alexander, and Lublin were in front of the holotable that was replaying Bridge's footage from when he unloaded half of his assault rifle's clip into the giant bear-like creature he fought earlier. Professor Smith, Apex, and Vice Admiral Marshall were also watching the footage as it played.

"Interesting… records show that no species like this has existed. And their bodies disappearing after they die? No animals like that exist, unless if you use Promethean weapons that disintegrate their targets afterward, that is." Professor Smith said.

"Well whatever they are, they seem to attack our troops on sight without provocation. They are shoot to kill for now on." Marshall stated.

"What do you want us to do now, sir?" Bridge asked Marshall.

"I want you and the rest of Fireteam Delta on standby in case of any further developments on the surface. I'd recommend you stay next to your drop pods, just in case." Marshall ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!" Bridge, Alexander, and Lublin left the room as they headed for their drop pods.

"Other than these creatures on the surface that have attacked our soldiers in plain sight, what else have you found out Professor?" Marshall asked as he closed Bridge's video feed.

"Well sir, it's good news. We have picked up these signals from across the planet's continents, it seems to be civilization!"

"Civilization? Please care to explain?" Marshall was confused.

"Well… civilization as in there are actually intelligent lifeforms on this planet. Upon closer inspection our teams have confirmed that these lifeforms are… humans?"

"Humanity? On this planet?"

"Yes, sir."

"Apex, can you confirm this?"

"Yes, Vice Admiral. These creatures are indeed Humans." Apex replied.

"This doesn't add up… Why would Humanity already have colonized this planet and make these big cities if it's completely unknown to the UNSC or even the Office of Naval Intelligence?" Marshall asked with more curiosity.

"That's something me and Apex have been asking for a while." Smith said as he zoomed in onto the nearest city. "The nearest city they have is named "Vale", and it seems to be a very important place in this world. From what me and Apex can tell from decoding their communications in secret while Bridge and his team were on the surface, this planet these Humans inhabit, they call it: " _Remnant_ " out of all things."

"Well Professor, let's see what kind of future this planet has in store for us."


	3. Breach

**Hey everyone, SuspectNutria here. Just wanted to say I love the feedback so far, and I wanted to say thank you very much. Just some little notes before beginning, I promise it'll be short. Bridge's new armor does have thrusters. I was a bit decisive on whether I should or should not let Bridge have a thruster pack for his armor, but I guess I will from now on since he does use Gen-2 Mjolnir Spartan armor. Also for bases the UNSC can deploy, Firebases will be the ones from Halo Wars 2 with the Condors delivering them and the Pelicans delivering their buildings, turrets, and troops such as the Marines coming out of their Pelican on the top of the base as seen in-game. Mini bases from Halo Wars 2 will remain the same as their Firebase counterparts, while "Fortresses" will be the Firebases from Halo Wars 1 because of how big they are, and they well, really look like a damn fortress to begin with. I also changed the UNSC Harvest's measurements a bit, won't affect the story too much. And when I said that I'll be using units (including barricades) from Halo Wars 2, I did mean that their designs are what they look like in the cutscenes/in-game just as a refresher.**

**That's all I wanted to say, so enjoy the chapter folks!**

**Last of the Brave**

**Chapter 3: Breach**

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_**

**March 29th, 2563; 16:45:30, UNSC Standard Time**

"Now that we know more about these " _Kingdoms of Remnant_ ", what else have you found out, Apex?" Marshall asked Apex who was projecting himself at the holotable with the planet of Remnant in front of him as Marshall walked toward him. Bridge was also at the holotable with Victoria projecting herself in front of him.

"Well sir, it seems in a week sort of tournament will be happening in Vale between the four kingdoms. They call this event: " _The Vytal Festival_ "." Apex replied.

"What kind of festival is it?" Victoria asked.

"As it states from its description: " _The Vytal Festival is an international festival held every two years in one of the Kingdoms of Remnant. During the festival, the various cultures of the world are celebrated with dances, parades and a combat tournament. The host kingdom of the festival rotates every two years, and the host opens its borders to visitors from the other kingdoms._ " Does that answer your question?" Apex crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Victoria with a cocky voice. Victoria rolled her eyes in a friendly manner.

"Thank you, Apex. What else can you tell us about these "Huntsmen Academies" that each kingdom has?" Marshall asked.

"They are combat schools for these " _Huntsmen and Huntresses_ " of Remnant that are tasked with defending the Kingdoms of Remnant from the Grimm and all other dangers in the world. While the most prestigious academy is in Atlas, the academy that will be hosting the Vytal Festival will be Beacon Academy in Vale. It's led by the Headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin, one of the brightest minds in all of Remnant, runs the academy, he could be a great ally for us. The same can be said for General James Ironwood of the Atlesian Military, he is in charge of all Atlesian forces in the Kingdom of Vale guarding the festival." Apex brought up Ozpin's and General Ironwood's photo of themselves.

"What's so important with the Atlesian Military guarding the festival?" Bridge asked. "Seems like there's already enough security for this event, and it's not like they're being invaded by a hostile power."

"The Atlesian Military is providing security for the Vytal Festival due to recent events that have happened in Vale. Since Atlas has the only major military force on the planet, they have some leisure over most kingdoms when it comes to diplomacy."

* * *

**UNSC _Harvest,_** **ODST Drop Bay**

While Apex continued talking to Marshall, Bridge, and Victoria of what the world of Remnant was like upstairs, Fireteam Delta and Sergeant Dubbo were near the ODST drop pods below them. They were hanging out just like the rest of the ODST's who were just chilling out until they had an assignment. They were having a good time as Dubbo was telling them a story which they all laughed at.

"And then one of the Grunts said: "Grunts first! We're smaller! AAAAAHHHH!" Right as the Master Chief entered and blew his way through the _Truth and Reconciliation's_ hangar bay. Next thing he did to that poor Grunt who was the only one left of his squad, Chief fuckin' kicked his ass straight off the ship from the hangar's doors! He was flying to his death, by falling with style!" Dubbo said, making everyone laugh. Bear laughed so damn hard he banged his left hand on the holotable, nearly destroying the whole thing with his strength. Everyone else had a good laugh at the Grunt's story with the Master Chief back on Installation 04 during Chief's mission to rescue Captain Keyes from the " _Truth and Reconciliation_ ".

"Anyway, you know the rest of the story as we saved Captain Keyes and stole a Covenant Spirit dropship." Dubbo finished.

"It's kind of amazing how you even survived the Battle of Installation 04. Let alone that you also survived the Flood, the Battles of Reach, Installation 05, Earth, Voi, and the Ark during the Human-Covenant War, Sergeant." Alexander remarked about his survival skills.

"Well mate, I guess luck has followed me around, or I'm probably just too hardcore to be an Aussie and die from those conflicts." Dubbo replied.

"After all of that, you definitely deserve the rank of Master Sergeant." Matthews said.

"Thank you, sir. It's what Sergeant Johnson would have wanted for me. I do miss him, he was the best Marine and senior officer I've ever met in the Corps."

"I'm sure everybody in the Marine Corps misses Johnson, he was THE example of a badass Marine who never gave up, and fought for what Humanity stands for. Unfortunately he died as a hero in the end, and we shall never forget him along with those who went beyond the call of duty." Matthews commented on the one and only Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson.

* * *

**Back on the bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_**

"Vice Admiral, we're picking up a huge wave of signals from Vale! It's across all channels!" one of the communications officers announced.

"Show me!" Marshall ordered. He and Apex saw dozens of voice messages pop up from the holotable.

" _Vale is being swarmed by the Grimm!_ "

" _The Grimm have breached Vale's defenses! I repeat: Grimm have breached Vale's defenses!"_

" _Somebody help us!_ "

"What's going on down in Vale, Apex?!" Marshall asked. Apex swiped the messages away as he pulled up video footage from Vale.

"It seems the Grimm are attacking the City of Vale, sir! A large breach of Vale's defenses has happened and the Grimm are leaking out from several spots. It looks very severe." Apex replied, worryingly.

"What's the status on the city's defenses?"

"With the Huntsmen and Atlesian forces they have, they won't stand much of a chance without any more help. What should we do, Vice Admiral?" Apex and the rest of the bridge's crew looked worried at Marshall, even Bridge and Victoria. Marshall looked up from the map to Apex's projection.

"Are we going to war, sir?" Marshall just looked down at the holotable and then raised his head at Apex

"Apex… do you know why we fight?" he asked Apex.

"Sir?..." Apex asked, confused.

"I asked: '"Why do we fight?" Apex." Marshall replied as he slowly walked across the bridge with every crew member standing up as he approached them. Apex then gave him an answer with a confident look from him.

"Sir, we fight because it's our duty to protect Humanity along with Earth and all of her colonies, whatever the cost may be."

"Affirmative. And why do you think our courage as the protectors of Humanity has persevered through all these years from the beginning of the Harvest Campaign all the way to the Battle of the Ark?" Apex now had a confident look on his face as he gave an answer.

"Because we never gave up on hope and kept our courage to fight on. We have fought every battle to the bitter end, even if we lose said battle." Marshall walked back to Apex.

"Exactly! Despite all the setbacks, planets glassed, and billions we've lost during the war, we won in the end! Do you know what a species does when it knows its being hunted from another to near extinction? It fights back! And with each counterattack alongside it's brothers and sisters fighting side by side together, each attack grows stronger with the courage and determination to survive! Where I see my crew, Apex, I see friends and family, courage, determination, and thousands upon thousands of heroes who've sworn to fight their way through every circle of Hell before they EVER turn their backs on their brothers and sisters in arms!"

"And when I see the _Harvest_ and the rest of the fleet, I see the rest of our fellow brothers and sisters fighting with us… We have all sworn a sacred oath to protect the innocent wherever they may be. The innocent people down there on the surface of Remnant need our help, and we shall never turn down a call for help from our fellow man as long as we live. And THAT is what the UNSC fights for!" Marshall pressed the red alert button underneath the holotable.

"To your battle stations, now!" Marshall ordered as the alarms went off.

" **SIR, YES SIR!** " every member on the bridge replied as they went to their spots. The room was now filled with activity as the _Harvest_ was full of announcements and orders to get ready for battle. Marshall moved some images up on the holotable's surface which projected a 3d model of a Marine in the standard-issued Insurrection and Human-Covenant War era model BDU, an ODST in regular M61C battle armor, M12B Chaingun Warthog, M808C Scorpion Main Battle Tank, M400 Kodiak, and Lieutenant Bridge's suit of armor.

"If we don't stop the Grimm now, we'll be leaving the rest of this world at the mercy of raging monsters!" Marshall nodded at both Victoria and Bridge. Bridge then proceeded to take Victoria's chip from the holotable, making her projection disappear from the holotable's surface. He put her chip into the AI slot in the back of his helmet as he walked out of the room towards the elevator which took him to the ODST Drop Bay where Fireteam Delta and Sergeant Major Dubbo were. Marshall walked towards the viewing glass of the bridge and spoke to Apex.

"So yes, Apex... We will be going to war against the Grimm today!" Marshall announced as he put both his hands behind his back.

"Sir, yes sir!" Apex replied with a big confident look and smile on his face.

* * *

**ODST Drop Bay**

Bridge exit out of the elevator and entered the drop bay. He saw that ODST Fireteam Delta and the rest of the Helljumpers were gearing up for battle, and decided to do the same. Bridge grabbed a pair of two M7 SMGs and put both of them on the side of his upper legs and equipped an M90 shotgun in his hands as he approached Fireteam Delta and Sergeant Major Dubbo.

"Lieutenant! What are our orders?" Alexander asked as Bridge walked towards them. On the holotank right next to them, Apex projected himself and spoke to them.

"I have the answer for your question Gunnery Sergeant." Apex announced as he showed up. He looked at Bridge and gave him his orders. "Lieutenant, Captain's orders. You are to take Fireteam Delta along with 1st and 2nd Squadron. Hard drop, secure a landing zone." Apex then turned toward Dubbo.

"Sergeant Major Dubbo, load up three flights of Pelicans and follow them in. You will be provided with Warthogs and heavy weapons."

"Aye aye, mate." Dubbo replied as the Helljumpers and Bridge got to their pods and entered them.

"Once the _Harvest_ and the rest of the fleet get underway in a few minutes, we will be able to send down troops and supplies to the battle. But until you find and secure a proper landing zone, you're on your own with the troops under your command, Lieutenant." Apex informed Bridge as he and Dubbo nodded at each other. Bridge also grabbed another weapon and put it in the weapon slot to the right of his chair with his shotgun on the left, keeping both his SMGs on the side of his legs and his shotgun in the weapons slot to the left of his chair.

"Understood." Bridge replied as the hatch of his SOEIV closed and his pod turned around. The pod's various screens and monitors came to life as his pod was now over Remnant. Matthews decided to speak to the Helljumpers over the radio before they were going to jump.

" _Helljumpers! You know the drill! We're going feet first into Hell! Get ready to drop!_ "

" _Over the target in five…_ " Apex announced to everyone.

" _You might want to hang onto your helmet!_ " Victoria suggested as the top right of the pod's hatch had some lights going out with each beep it made before they jumped. With each beep, it signaled: "3. 2. 1. Mark!"

All of a sudden, Bridge's pod went first as he flew down to Remnant with the other ODST pods following right him to the surface. He saw his pod's ceramic skin burn away as they made atmospheric re-entry by looking through the hatch's window. Bridge felt the entire pod shake as they passed the Thermosphere at the incredible speed he and the ODST's were going at. The drop gave him fond memories when he joined the Hellumpers at the age of 18, he served with them for four years until some of the top brass noticed how skilled and efficient he was, and Bridge eventually joined the Spartan Corps just over a year ago.

As Bridge and the rest of the ODST's pods reached an altitude of around 3,000 feet (900 Meters), their upper exterior panels separated and acted as their drag-chutes, slowing their descent. The City of Vale was now coming into view as the helljumpers and Bridge got closer to their destination, they could see the Grimm terrorizing the city as they attacked everything in sight.

" _Mind the bump!_ " Victoria said right before the drag-chute detached from his pod, making him hit the back of his head against the seat.

"Ow! Thanks, Victoria!" Bridge sarcastically remarked at her with a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

" _Oops! Sorry!_ " Victoria apologized as she giggled a little, Bridge decided to ignore it as they were about to hit their landing site. At approximately 160 feet (50 meters), the pod's computer controlled braking rockets engaged, slowing Bridge's pod further just before he hit the surface. His pod crashed into the side of a tall office building and smashed through seven floors before it eventually came to a halt. The hatch popped open by the pod's explosive gas-bolt system Bridge triggered, the hatch later landed onto the street as it fell from above. Bridge stood up and looked down below, an Ursa was right below him as he put his battle rifle on his back. He looked to his left and saw a larger hoard of Grimm, two of them were Werewolf-like Grimm known as "Beowolves" by the people of Remnant.

" _I'm sure you brought some heavier firepower than a shotgun, two SMGs, and a few grenades?_ " Victoria asked. Bridge pulled out the extra weapon he brought with him from the weapon holster to the right of his seat, and slung it over his shoulder as the front of the weapon popped open. The weapon's barrel appeared with two small metal ticks on the side along with a small blue targeting screen on the side of the weapon right near the grip for it on the bottom of the front. It was an M6 Spartan Laser.

"You're damn right I did!" Bridge replied. He then jumped out of his pod and ground pounded onto an Ursa's head, smashing it to bits with his right foot. Bridge looked up and saw three Beowolves, two Ursa Minors, and an Ursa Major looking at him. They roared and ran towards him with their sharp claws ready to strike him. Bridge put his Spartan Laser on the ground and grabbed his M90 shotgun, cocking it in his hands.

* * *

**Fireteam Delta and 1st Squadron**

**Somewhere else in the City of Vale**

Fireteam Delta and the other ODSTs landed in a different part of Vale as they were separated from Bridge since his pod landed elsewhere in the city. All of the Helljumpers got out of their pods with their weapons ready to fight any Grimm they saw. They ditched their pods and stripped them of any weapons, munitions, and supplies. Some Grimm were even squished to death by some of the drop pods landing on them coincidentally.

"Alright troops, the Lieutenant landed a few blocks away from us. Let's regroup with him and continue the mission! Let's go!" Matthews ordered as they moved out. They moved past one block until they saw some Ursai running towards them.

"We got Grimm incoming! Take them out!" Longbow and two other ODST snipers fired their SRS99-S2 AMB sniper rifles at the Ursai, taking them out with a few quick shots. The creatures fell to the ground with their bodies disappearing as the Helljumpers pushed forward. After shooting their way through some Beowolves in their way, they finally met where Bridge was.

As Fireteam Delta rounded the corner of an abandoned building, they saw that Bridge was killing, no… he was FUCKING UP the Grimm all by himself with the help of Victoria, going full on Doom Rip and Tear style. He had a Creep's head under his right foot, his left hand strangling another one, and had his M90 shotgun in his right hand aiming at a Beowolf's face. His shotgun blasted the Beowolf away as he slammed the Creep he was strangling onto the ground and fired his shotgun at its head, killing it instantly. Then he repeatedly smashed the Creep's head under his right foot with his boot, smashing its skull. After he finished smashing the Grimm's brains in, a Boarbatusk ran towards him, Bridge then stopped the Boarbatusk with both of his hands by grabbing its smaller front tusks, tore them off with his bare hands, and finally stabbed them underneath its bone mask into the skull, killing it instantly.

Bridge then immediately used his thrusters to dodge a Beowolf's attack, getting one of its arms stuck in a pile of debris as it tried to strike him. He dashed toward the face of the Beowolf and punched it in the face with all of his strength, cracking it's face mask with a single, straight punch and ripped the whole bone mask off its face, revealing its exposed face. Bridge punched the Grimm's face, creating a hole and ripped out the insides of its head, killing it as the Beowolf's body fell to the ground and later disappeared. An Ursa Major charged toward Bridge who just picked up the Spartan Laser he left on the ground, and aimed it at the Ursa. He pulled the trigger as the weapon charged with a bright, red glow from the barrel with the metal ticks aligning themselves. As the ticks perfectly aligned themselves on the side of the barrel, a huge red beam fired from the weapon and annihilated the Ursa Major, leaving a massive chunk of its body missing along with its head from the laser's blast.

"Having fun there, Lieutenant?" Matthews asked. Bridge turned around with his Spartan Laser in his right hand.

"Sure am!" he replied as he stomped on a dying Beowolf's head with his left foot, smashing it's head to pieces.

"We thought you could use a little help, sir." Longbow said.

"Alright Helljumpers, cut the chatter. You know our mission: We need to find a proper LZ so our Pelicans can come in and drop off reinforcements and possibly set up a firebase! Victoria, can you try to establish contact with any local military forces or possibly the Atlesian military?"

" _I can try, communications are acting up a bit. But it's nothing I can't handle._ " she replied.

"Good, if we want to paint a good picture of the UNSC to the people of Remnant, then we're going to have to work with them by helping them clean up this Grimm breach. It might not be much to start off with, but it's a start at least. Fireteam Delta, have you seen any possible LZ sites that our Pelicans can use?"

"On our way down Lieutenant, we saw this plaza that looks like it has enough room for our Pelicans. It's about a click north of our position." Duran answered.

"If we hurry over there, we can get reinforcements and a base of operations going. Let's give them Hell, ODSTs!"

"Oorah!" they all replied together.

"Move out, troopers! I'll take point!" Bridge announced as he led them to their possible LZ site. His Spartan Laser was ready with his SMGs on the side of his legs and the shotgun on his back. He was going to make every shot with his Spartan Laser count since he only had three out of four shots remaining. The ODSTs and Spartan made their way through the streets as they passed abandoned buildings that had been evacuated as the Grimm were attacking the city.

Eventually, all of the ODSTs and bridge made their way to the plaza, before they entered it, they saw the Grimm surrounding the middle of it in one giant circle. Longbow used his O/I optics on the top of his head as he pulled it down as he zoomed in with his SRS99C-S2 AMB sniper rifle. He saw that there were four young girls who seemed to be young adults around 17 or 18 being surrounded by the Grimm. He noticed they had very weird weapons as well, the red girl had a giant scythe, the white one had a rapier, one of the girls with a black bow had what seemed to be a small sword that could also be a pistol, and the blonde had what seemed to be gauntlets on her arms.

"What do you see, Longbow?" Bridge asked.

"The Grimm are surrounding four girls, most likely Huntresses." Longbow replied.

"How many Grimm are there?"

"Around two dozen or so."

"Alright then, Helljumpers, flank right! I'll take the left. Once I give the signal, attack them with everything you got!" Bridge ordered as Longbow lifted his O/I optics back onto his helmet.

"What's the signal going to be, sir?" Duran asked as she loaded a new clip into her M392 DMR.

"If you see me attack the Grimm, that's the signal. It'll be obvious when I do it." he replied.

"Got it, sir!"

"Alright troopers, move!" Bridge moved to the left side of the plaza with the ODSTs going to the right side where they could flank the Grimm. Bridge saw the four Huntresses taking on the Grimm as he talked to Victoria.

"Hey Victoria?" Bridge got her attention.

" _Yeah?_ " she asked.

"Can you give me a speed boost to my thrusters and more of an impact to my ground pound?"

" _I can divert power from your shields to your thrusters and ground pound for the time being, what do you have in mind?_

"Well, I got an idea on how to take out that big ass snake…" he looked at the King Taijitu who was looking over the Huntresses.

* * *

**Somewhere in the City of Vale**

**Team RWBY**

Team RWBY were currently surrounded by Grimm in a relatively average-sized plaza, Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps, and a King Taijitu were surrounding the four Huntresses. From where their train crashed, Team RWBY should have been in a smaller pavilion-like area in Vale, but it seems that their luck was dry as more Grimm surrounded them and were ready to strike.

Ruby nodded to her teammates as they charged at the Grimm, she used Crescent Rose to strike a pack of Beowolves in one swift strike as Weiss used her glyphs to launch herself and stab four Creeps with Myrtenaster. Weiss then switched Myrtenaster's revolving Dust chamber and casted a sheet of ice, making four Beowolves slip and slide onto the ground. Blake took the initiative and took them out with Gambol Shroud, eliminating them easily. Yang projected herself into the air with Ember Celica and slammed at an Ursa to the ground as she punched it with all of her might. Ruby knew they would survive this, she got ready to attack a group of Grimm that Weiss and Blake were focusing on.

But unfortunately for Ruby, she wouldn't get the chance as the King Taijitu got behind her and let out a huge roar. She turned around and saw the black snake above her as it roared in her face.

"Okay…. Not part of the plan!" she freaked out as the creature was about to attack her. She readied herself with Crescent Rose as the King Taijitu was about to attack her, but luckily for her, a new player has entered the game. She heard someone yell something as a figure came out of nowhere and leaped forward toward the King Taijitu.

"Got room for a passenger, bud?!" the figure ground pounded at the King Taijitu's head, making it slither back up and having its head fall to the ground. Ruby looked at the figure who was right in front of her, a giant 7 foot tall armor-clad figure with a massive weapon slung over his right shoulder, and what seemed to be a shotgun on his back and two SMGs on the sides of his legs. The King Taijitu lifted up its head and looked at its new prey that entered the battle, it let out a loud roar as it prepared to attack. But as the Grimm roared, the figure lifted up his weapon and held the trigger with a small flashing red line popping up repeatedly until a giant red laser beam was shot out of it, killing the King Taijitu through its head. The Grimm's body fell to the ground with its missing head and Ruby looked back at the figure towering over her. She saw that his armor was steel black and silver gray, along with his silver visor.

"Get down!" the figure yelled. Ruby ducked as a Beowolf was about to strike her, but the figure pulled out his shotgun and blew its head off. The Beowolf lay dead and the figure put his laser weapon on his back and charged at the Grimm with his shotgun. Ruby was astonished at how fast the figure ran with what seemed to be boosters on his armor as he began to fuck the Grimm's shit up.

"Helljumpers! Now!" the figure yelled. Soon about a dozen or so more figures revealed themselves and fought the horde of Grimm. These people were most likely soldiers as Team RWBY saw these individuals fight the Grimm with effectiveness as their numbers dwindled. After a few more minutes of fighting the Grimm, Ruby saw Teams JNPR and CFVY enter the scene right next to her.

"Hey Ruby, you guys okay?" Jaune asked her with Crocea Mors out.

"We looked all over for you guys!" Velvet said.

"Yeah, we're all right! We were fighting the Grimm here and then these guys showed up!" Ruby pointed towards the tall armor-clad figure and the others who were fighting the Grimm. The same figure fought a Nevermore with his laser weapon and fired it, burning a huge chunk of the Nevermore's left wing, making it fall out of the sky and crashing to the ground. Then as a Deathstalker approached them, he fired his laser again at the Deathstalker's stinger, making it break off of its tail. He then ditched his weapon as it ran out of ammo and did a hand signal to three of his teammates who had what seemed to be a rocket launcher, machine gun turret, and a grenade launcher. They all nodded at him and opened fire at the Deathstalker's face, making it severely damaged and cracked as the figure then charged right at the Deathstalker with his two SMGs.

The figure fired his SMGs at the Deathstalker's eyes as he charged toward it. Then he jumped in the air and used his boosters as he put his SMGs away and formed a fist with his right hand, making impact with the Deathstalker's face. As he landed on its face, he then proceeded to punch the Deathstalker's mask repeatedly until even more cracks started to form and he tore a chunk of bone off from the middle of its face as his teammates were distracting the beast. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY saw him pull out a grenade out and armed it as he stuck it right underneath the Deathstalker's mask where its exposed tissue lied. He got off of the Deathstalker's face by doing a backflip and rolled backwards as it tried to swipe at him with its massive claws. The figure got onto his knees as the Deathstalker then stopped dead in its tracks, and next thing it knew, its head exploded into several pieces of flesh and bone as the armor-clad figure kneeled right in front of it. The figure covered his visor as the monster's face blew up right in front of him, preventing anything from getting on it. After the creature fell to the ground, he got back on his feet and overlooked the damage he caused. The Deathstalker's body laid dead and soon disappeared as he towered over it and looked down at a dying Beowolf. He used his right foot to smash its head, putting it out of its misery as it let out a cry of pain. Velvet made sure to get everything recorded on her scroll and took a picture on it since Coco told her to not use her weapon, Anesidora.

"We'll catch up with you later, we got some Grimm to take care of!" Coco announced as they saw a pack of Grimm in the distance and left Teams RWBY and JNPR as they charged at the Grimm in pursuit. Both teams looked back and saw the figure contacting someone.

" _Harvest_ Actual, this is Bridge. LZ is secure." he informed.

" _Roger that Lieutenant, Sergeant Dubbo's Pelicans are making their way towards you along with a Firebase. Apex says that the infestation is growing, so you'll need more numbers to fight the Grimm down there._ "

"Roger that Vice Admiral, Bridge out." the figure turned around and saw Ruby in front of him. She spoke to him with a kind voice.

"Hi! Uh… thanks for the help, I guess."

"No problem." he spoke. Ruby was soon approached by the rest of her team and friends who then began talking to him.

"Who are you? Are you with Atlas?" Weiss asked him.

"No, I'm not with Atlas." he replied.

"Then who are you with? Your armor doesn't seem to be from Atlas, let alone the design of it." Coco pointed out since his armor stood out like a sore thumb.

"Allow me to introduce myself then." he stood at attention with his hands behind his back. "I'm Spartan Alpha 091, Lieutenant Bridge of the Spartan Corps for the UNSC, United Nations Space Command."

The Huntsmen didn't know anything about what he just said.

"Uh….. UNSC? Spartan Corps?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Affirmative." Bridge replied.

"How do we know if you're not lying?" Blake asked.

"Right here." he pointed his right finger to the upper right side of his chest. What all the Huntsmen saw would change their lives forever as they saw three numbers: "091". They also saw a logo above the three numbers, it was an eagle with its wings spread out and pointing up with a shield on its chest with four giant letters spelling out: "UNSC". Underneath the shield was what seemed to be a planet with three stars on each side near the top of it right next to the shield, and a giant banner was across the planet that said: "United Nations Space Command". He wasn't lying to them, he really was a part of this "UNSC" he was talking about.

"So you're not lying?" Jaune asked him.

"Yep, I'm not lying one bit." Bridge answered. "And who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Ruby Rose! And these are teammates and friends! This is Weiss Schnee."

"Greetings."

"Blake Belladonna."

"Hello."

"My half-sister, Yang Xiao Long."

"Hey."

"And this is Team JNPR, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren."

"You're all Huntsmen, if I'm correct?" Bridge asked

"Yes, we are."

"I'd love to talk, but we got to focus on a much bigger problem. The Grimm infestation is getting larger and Vale is going to need all the help it can get. The UNSC is ready to fight the Grimm and push them back, we aren't leaving Vale to be the Grimm's next meal!" Bridge replied.

"Well, the more help Vale gets, the better chances we have to save the city!" Ruby cheered.

"If you guys and gals want to help, you can fight the Grimm alongside us, just try to not get in the way of our fire, of course." Bridge said.

"Don't worry, we'll handle it. We're Huntsmen and Huntresses after all!" Ruby gave a small salute as she used Crescent Rose to jump into the air and head to another part of the city. Bridge was stunned at what she and her friends did for movement as they used their weapons. Bridge put Victoria inside his helmet as the rest of the Huntsmen made their way.

"How the Hell did they do that?" Bridge asked Victoria.

" _It's most likely due to the weapons they have. They seem to give them a boost to their speed and agility._ " she replied.

"Interesting, can you look into it more?"

" _Sure can, after we finish this battle, of course._ "

"Right." Bridge then got a transmission and stepped away as he answered it.

" _Lieutenant Bridge, this is Dubbo, we're coming in!_ "

"Glad of you Leathernecks to join us! The LZ is clear!" Bridge saw two flights of D77-TC Pelicans descend onto the plaza detaching their M12B Chaingun Warthogs and Marines piling out of them. They were all wearing their iconic Insurrection and Human-Covenant War era model of the Marine Corps' BDU with some of them having ballistic goggles and/or a balaclava to go with their helmets. Several Marines shouted and cheered as they were deployed.

"Marines! Ready to serve!"

"Oorah, Marines!"

"Let's get moving, Leathernecks!"

After the Pelicans finished detaching their Warthogs and emptying their troops, a D81-LRT Condor arrived with a Firebase ready to deploy. It dropped the Firebase off where the Marines and ODSTs created a landing site for it with green smoke grenades as signals. The Condor dropped off the Firebase and headed back to the UNSC _Harvest_ as the base began to set itself up. More D77-TC Pelicans flew in and dropped off two supply pads and generators, a barracks, garage, and an airpad, along with four turrets for defense.

The Firebase they were establishing finished within twenty seconds and the troops began to assemble. Bridge saw a Pelican land on the roof of the Firebase with Marines coming out of it and going inside the base to arm themselves with one of them giving a salute to the Pelican before heading inside. Victoria then gave Bridge an alert as someone was trying to contact them.

" _Bridge, I'm getting an incoming transmission! Someone's trying to contact us, it's not UNSC._ "

"Put it through, I'm up for talking."

" _This is General Ironwood of the Atlesian Military, who am I speaking to?_ " the person who was trying to contact Bridge revealed themselves.

"This is Spartan Alpha 091, Lieutenant Bridge of the UNSC." Bridge replied. "How can I help you, General?"

" _UNSC? Would you care to explain who you guys are?_ "

"We are the United Nations Space Command. I'd love to talk, General Ironwood, but we have a major Grimm problem to worry about. The Grimm are taking over this city fast, and we have to stop them before they can gain more ground!"

" _On that we can agree, soldier._ "

"We've set up a Firebase so we can send more troops and supplies for us to fight the Grimm. We're going to need bigger numbers if we want to succeed after all. And General, we are NOT your enemy. So please, don't attack us, will you?"

" _Alright. If you are really here to help us, then let's focus on defeating the Grimm together. Your soldiers know what our troops look like, yes?_ "

"I'm sure they do, sir. We won't fire on you. You have my word."

" _Good, the Grimm are converging in the downtown area. Our forces there could use some backup in that area of the city. They're at a big plaza, and Huntsmen Teams from Beacon Academy are on their way to assist them as well._ _Be careful, the Grimm are increasing their numbers and I don't know how much longer they can hold their position for._ "

"Roger that, we'll get there."

" _Good luck, soldier. Be careful out there, Ironwood out._ "

" _Well he seemed rather cooperative._ " Victoria commented.

"Well yeah, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all." Bridge said, he then contacted Marshall about his talk with this "Ironwood" person.

" _Harvest_ Actual, this is Lieutenant Bridge."

" _Go ahead Lieutenant, what is it?_ " Marshall asked.

"Sir, I've made contact with this "General Ironwood" over the radio, it seems that we've just made contact with the Atlesian Military and he agreed that we're going to work together against the Grimm."

" _Good work! General Ironwood is the Headmaster of the Atlas Huntsmen Academy and one of, if not, the most important figure within the Atlesian Military. He is an ally that we want to have, so good work with starting on friendly terms towards him._ "

"Thank you, Vice Admiral. The Firebase is set and our troops are ready for combat. The General suggests that we make it to another plaza, this one is really big and his troops there are getting surrounded by the Grimm. Their numbers are shrinking and they're going to need some help over there."

" _Then get over there and help them out, if we show the people of Remnant that we are willing to fight side by side against the Grimm, we'll be held in a good opinion from them. Take your army and get over there, Apex says the Grimm's numbers are growing exponentially, so you're going to need some firepower if that happens. We'll also prepare a Fortress with some extra heavy firepower as well, you might need it._ _But you should have enough units to get over there and deal with the Grimm._ "

"Roger that, sir!"

" _I'll be speaking to the General when I get the chance to. All ground forces for this operation are now under your command Lieutenant. Now get over there and show the Grimm that the UNSC doesn't mess around!_ "

"Sir, yes sir!"

A Chaingun Warthog then pulled right up next to him with Alexander driving it and Lublin in the passenger's seat with her M41 SPNKR rocket launcher out.

"Lieutenant! The gun's all yours!" Alexander announced. Bridge got on the M46 Vulcan chaingun and cocked it before speaking to the troops. Currently the army that was under Bridge's command had several Marine squadrons loading up inside their Pelicans including Dubbo, Chaingun and Gauss Warthogs, two flights of Hornets for air superiority with two Marines as passengers, each carrying a M41 SPNKR rocket launcher with one Marine on each side, several Cyclopes for dealing with the heavily armored Grimm forms, and some Wolverines to deal with the Nevermores and other aerial Grimm forms.

"Alright troops, listen up! We're moving out to help the Atlesian Military before they are eventually swarmed by the Grimm. They are at a large plaza which there will be plenty of Grimm to face, be prepared for anything and DO NOT shoot Atlesian troops or any civilians on sight. We want to show Remnant that we, the UNSC, are not conquerors and are here to help them. Check your targets and shoot any Grimm form on sight, they will not hesitate to kill you. Understood?!" Bridge got multiple "Oorah!"'s and "Sir, yes sir!"'s from the troops.

"Move out, Marines!" Bridge ordered as Alexander stepped on the gas and was the lead vehicle of the group as the other Warthogs followed him with the Cyclopes and Wolverines behind them as the Hornets flew above. The rest of Fireteam Delta were in Warthogs as the troops moved out. Matthews and Duran were in an M12B Warthog with Longbow and Bear in a Warthog of their own as well. Matthews and Longbow drove the vehicle they were in with Duran and Bear as their gunners.

"Targets at 1 o'clock! Take them down!" Bridge alerted the rest of the soldiers as a group of Beowolves and Ursai were approaching them. Bridge fired the M46 in short controlled bursts, aiming for the Beowolves in the front of the pack first. The other Warthogs did so as well with the Cyclops firing their guns at the Ursai. The Hornets also gave some support by firing their twin-linked rotary cannons and Class-2 Guided missiles as they passed the pack. The Grimm were annihilated by the hellfire that was rained upon them by the group as they pushed forward to the large plaza.

Upon halfway towards their destination, Apex contacted Bridge. He answered the AI after shooting down some Beowolves that tried to strike their Warthog. Bridge then spoke to him.

" _Lieutenant Bridge, this is Apex. The Grimm at the plaza you're going to have a Goliath with them. It's a giant Elephant-like Grimm that's several stories tall. I'm sending you a pair of Scorpions to deal with it, you're going to need them._ "

"Thank you, Apex. When will the fleet get here?"

" _The fleet is currently underway, just hang tight. We'll get there sooner or later._ "

"Roger that, thanks again!"

After shooting their way through hordes of Grimm, Apex called Bridge again, this time with an update on the Grimm's numbers.

" _Lieutenant Bridge,_ _the Grimm are gaining ground and are taking control of the city fast. And they have also increased their numbers twofold._ " Apex informed him.

" _Harvest_ Actual, this is Bridge. The Grimm are close to swarming the whole city if they gain more ground. I suggest that we set up a new base for ground operations."

"Harvest _, Matthews here. I agree with the Lieutenant. We got room for another base down here?_ "

" _The plaza you're heading to is the perfect spot for a new base of operations. We're going to send down a fortress to your position with some heavy reinforcements. I'll go ahead and talk it out with General Ironwood about using that site before we go ahead with it._ " Marshall advised.

"Roger that, Vice Admiral."

Finally they arrived at the plaza where several Atlesian foot soldiers, AK-200's, and two Paladins were fighting off the invading Grimm forces. Their numbers dwindled to around a dozen regular foot soldiers, a dozen and a half AK-200's, and the last two Paladins they had. There also were two Huntsmen teams, it was Team RWBY and JNPR who beat them to the plaza.

"Hang on!" Alexander announced as he shifted the Warthog's gear and slammed his foot on the gas. He drove from behind the Atlesian soldier's positions and zoomed past them as he ran a young Ursa Minor over as Bridge held his finger on the M46's trigger and Lublin firing her rocket launcher. The other Warthogs and Hornets followed behind them and attacked the Grimm, leaving the Atlesian soldiers with surprised, yet puzzled looks at these new strangers who entered the battlefield. There were two Huntsmen teams with them, and they were none other than Teams RWBY and JNPR themselves.

While the Warthogs and Hornets were focusing on the Grimm, eight Pelicans entered the scene as they landed behind the Atlesian defenses. As their troop bay doors opened, Teams RWBY and JNPR saw these strange looking troopers wearing their green BDU as they came out of the aircraft. The soldiers readied their weapons and spoke as they went to help man the Atlesian defenses.

"Marines, ready to serve!"

"Oorah Marines!"

"Get yourself together, Leathernecks! We got hostiles inbound!"

The Marines manned the wall as the Atlesian Sergeant spoke to them.

"Who the Hell are you guys?!" he asked them.

"We're the UNSC, mate! We're your allies!" Dubbo answered as he fired his MA5C assault rifle at an Ursa Minor.

After the Marines arrived, the Cyclopes followed in and focused fire on a Deathstalker. They took out its singer and claws first and then finished the rest of it off with their guns. The closest Cyclops to Team RWBY grabbed a Beowolf by its arm, and then killed it by grabbing its jaw and pulling the creature's entire body in half. Team RWBY was, well… shocked to see the massive mechanical vehicle to tear a Grimm apart like that as it targeted an Ursa Major with it's gun mounted on its right arm. Ruby was in awe at the sight of it killing a Grimm like that. All seemed to go well until the Grimm grew larger and larger in numbers, and Bridge contacted Apex.

"Hey Apex, where are those Scorpions you said we would get?" Bridge asked.

" _They're coming to you right now. I had the liberty to give you an extra pair of them since a Goliath is heading your way._ " Apex replied to him and the rest of Fireteam Delta.

" _A Goliath you say?_ " Bear joined the conversation. " _Ha! I bet it's not really as big as it might seem!_ " Turns out, he was wrong. After Bear spoke, a MASSIVE Elephant-like Grimm that stood at around ten to twelve stories tall was approaching toward them and let out a large roar. Unlike most Goliaths who stood at twenty stories, this one seemed to be relatively young and seemed to be more aggressive.

" _You just_ _ **HAD**_ _to open your big mouth, didn't you Bear?!_ " Lublin yelled as Alexander slammed the side of the Warthog into a Beowolf, killing it. As the Goliath was approaching them, four Pelicans dropped off four M808C Scorpion tanks with extra squadrons of Marines to man the line while the drivers and gunners for the Scorpions got to work.

"All units, keep firing on that thing until it doesn't move! Keep shooting it until it stops breathing!" Bridge ordered as the Warthogs parked themselves horizontally alongside the Atlesians, Huntsmen, ODSTs and Marines as they opened fire on the beast. The Cyclopes, Hornets with their Marine passengers, Scorpions, and Wolverines open fired with everything they had at the beast. They started to hurt it as it kept charging forward.

"Keep firing!" one of the Marine Sergeants yelled at his troops as the Goliath came closer and fired his M90 shotgun at a struggling Creep who tried to attack him.

With a tremendous rain of fire from the UNSC, Huntsmen, and Atlesians alike, the Goliath was struggling as it was being chipped away. The UNSC keep relentlessly firing at the beast with their weapons and vehicles. Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with the Atlesian personnel, were genuinely shocked at how determined these new strangers were to take a Goliath down. Being one of the largest Grimm forms out there, these damn things made armies during the Great War fear as they were almost unstoppable. But something was odd about this new group of strangers, they had almost no fear in them as they continued firing at the Goliath as smaller Grimm forms would occasionally come as well. The Goliath stopped in its tracks as it let out a cry of pain, after one of the Scorpions fired a direct hit on it.

"It's almost done for, keep firing!" Bridge yelled as his finger was still on the M46's trigger. He actually forgot how long he held onto it as the gun almost overheated. After another minute of continuous fire from the UNSC, the beast fell down and dissolved, but it wasn't over yet… As soon as the young Goliath's body was finished disappearing, another one appeared, but this time it was MUCH LARGER, standing at least twenty to twenty-five stories high with several dozens of Beowolves, Ursai, and Boarbatusks following behind it.

Right before the UNSC opened fire on the horde, a barrage of M58 Archer missiles and three GA-TL1 Longswords came in and bombed the complete crap out of the Grimm. After the explosions stopped, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias entered the scene next to Team RWBY. Ruby took notice and spoke to them.

"Hey Sun! Hey Neptune!" Ruby greeted them.

"Junior detectives here!" Sun announced as he pulled out his junior detective badge.

"We have badges so you know it's official!" Neptune fistbumped Sun. Just after he and Sun finished, their scrolls, along with Team RWBY and JNPR's scrolls rang with an incoming transmission from "Unknown" that automatically accepted the call. The person on the other end then spoke to them, along with every single device connected to the CCT in the City of Vale.

" _To the people of Vale, I am Vice Admiral Anthony Marshall. Please do not be afraid of us, our intentions are peaceful and our goals align with yours._ " the voice from a man announced.

Teams RWBY and JNPR, Sun and Neptune, the Atlesian soldiers, and the UNSC looked up to see one extremely massive warship fly over them with two medium-sized ones and eight smaller ones flying next to it. Everyone except for the UNSC reacted in awe as the one massive vessel was in their sight, Ruby almost dropped Crescent Rose as Sun dropped his badge while her friends saw the whole thing.

" _We are the United Nations Space Command, and we're here to help Remnant._ " the voice finished as the UNSC _Harvest_ and her fleet flew over the city. As if on cue, dozens of GA-TL1 Longswords and F-41 Broadswords zoomed by with several dozens, if not, hundreds of D77-TC Pelicans coming from the entire fleet and flew to the surface carrying troops, vehicles, and supplies. Even some G81 Condor Gunships flew in with the Pelicans as they made their way to the city. It was a glorious sight for anyone in the UNSC Armed Forces to see.

Everyone there dropped their jaws in shock as the full might of the UNSC _Harvest_ was displayed as fighters and Pelicans continued to come out of her as she fired her guns at hordes of Grimm on the ground and several ODST drop pods were launched. Several Pelicans landed at the plaza, dropping off their vehicles and Marines as they arrived. Two D20 Herons landed onto the plaza and deployed the two halves of the Fortress that the Harvest sent Bridge and the UNSC.

"Beautiful sight, isn't she?" Bridge approached right next to Ruby and commented as the Harvest was over the city with her fleet.

"Who are you guys, really?" Ruby asked, worrying a bit. She saw him look at her with his silver visor.

"We are the United Nations Space Command, you have nothing to fear from us, Miss Rose. We mean no harm to the people of Remnant."

The Fortress finished assembling as its buildings were being constructed. A barracks, airpad, garage, and two supply pads and reactors were being assembled from its pre-fabricated layout as the troops assembled.

" _We heard you needed some more firepower Lieutenant, so here's a little gift for you._ " Marshall informed Bridge as the Fortress was finished assembling itself.

" _We're now going to push the Grimm back to where the breach is._ _You'll have some new toys to play with down there. Now get moving!_ " Marshall ordered.

"Thanks sir, we'll use them wisely! " Bridge finished

With the Fortress, the UNSC now had access to more Scorpions along with some new toys to play with. Said toys consisted of multiple M400 Kodiaks, Mark IX Mantises, two AC-220 Vultures, a M850 Grizzly main battle tank, and even a fucking Condor Gunship with all of its weapons ready.

"Sir, tank's all yours!" the driver announced as he got out of the vehicle and saluted Bridge.

"Thanks, soldier!" Bridge saluted back at him and climbed into the driver's seat. He closed the hatch as the vehicle came to life and felt the immense amount of power the Grizzly gave off. The Atlesian soldiers and Teams RWBY and JNPR were… awestruck to say the least.

" _I know what you're thinking, and I like it._ " Victoria said as Bridge took control of the tank.

"Oh man... I love this thing!" Bridge said as he drove the massive vehicle. Now that the UNSC was going to do an armored thrust against the Grimm, a group of Scorpions, Cyclopes, Mantises, Warthogs, and Bridge's Grizzly we're now together in one group as the Marines gathered around them. Two squadrons of Hornets with their Marine passengers equipped with rocket launchers also hovered over them as their air support for the attack. Matthews, Duran, and Bear got together in a single Warthog and drove right next to Alexander and Lublin's as Bridge then spoke to all of the troops present.

"Alright troops, let's push the Grimm back to where they belong: in Hell! Move out!" Bridge ordered as a few Marines and Sergeant Major Dubbo rode on his Grizzly's track covers like the Scorpions in the group. Multiple responses from the troops were heard as he led the charge with his behemoth of a tank.

"Let's go!" Lublin yelled as she cocked the Warthog's M46 as Alexander drove with Longbow in the passenger seat while she got to shoot.

"Yeah!" Bear yelled as he was on the Warthog's gun as Matthews drove with Duran as their passenger. Teams RWBY and JNPR looked at each other for what to do now.

"What now?" Jaune asked. Ruby remembered what Bridge told her previously with their first encounter.

"The one who seems to lead these soldiers on the ground said earlier that we can help them. So we should go help them." Ruby suggested.

"And to NOT get in their path of fire!" Weiss added, just to make sure everyone understood.

"Let's go!" Nora yelled as she launched herself with Manghild up onto a building. She helped Jaune get up by, well… slamming the street and making him fly onto the top of the nearest building like she did during their initiation at the abandoned temple ruins where they fought that Deathstalker and Nevermore together.

"Come on!" Ruby announced as she used semblance to catch up with Nora, the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR followed suit. As the UNSC started their counteroffensive against the Grimm, Team RWBY and JNPR were fighting next to them in the streets and on the top of the buildings they passed.

Bridge led the charge as the UNSC was now on the offensive against the Grimm to where the city's walls were broken by a damaged subway train from a _certain_ Huntress team they may or may not know about, Team RWBY. The Hornets above we're taking care of two Nevermores with was they fired their cannons and rockets at them as the rest of the army moved up. Dubbo spoke up as he spotted a group of Beowolves up front.

"We got ugly bastards at 12 o'clock, Lieutenant!" Bridge saw the massive Beowolves roar at them and aimed right at them. With the pull of a trigger, the entire group was fucking annihilated from one of the Gizzly's dual-mounted M310 cannons.

"Oi! How does 120mm of Tungsten feel, ya bastards?!" Dubbo cheered.

Ruby saw the power of the Grizzly after she finished off a Creep with Crescent Rose, the sound of the explosion sent shivers down her spine, and excited her since she was a gun nut and they had so many weapons for her to check out if she ever got the chance to.

The UNSC was now pushing the rest of the Grimm out of the City of Vale as their forces from the Harvest and the rest of her fleet were continuously increasing. The point of entrance where the Grimm kept coming through was a large breach in the wall separating Vale from Mountain Glenn. The breach allowed dozens of Grimm to come in as UNSC forces were finishing wrapping up stray Grimm in Vale as Bridge's forces approached the breach. The UNSC set up a defensive wall with barricades in front of the breach as over one hundred Marines with dozens of Warthogs, eight Scorpions, six Kodiaks, and two flights of Hornets were killing the Grimm that entered from the breach. Bridge got out of his Grizzly tank and spoke to the Marine Sergeant in charge as the troops kept firing on the Grimm were trying to get into Vale. The Grimm were throwing themselves at the UNSC as they were growing desperate.

"What's the situation, Sergeant?" Bridge asked him.

"Lieutenant! The Grimm keep throwing themselves at us. We're managing to hold them off, but Apex just informed us that a final wave of Grimm is going to attack us. Hundreds of them will be present for this attack, and reinforcements will be heading our way in a few." he answered.

"How much time do we have before they attack us?"

"About five minutes, sir.

"Then let's get ready before those monsters attack us!" bridge got back into his Grizzly tank as the Marines and Dubbo dismounted from the track covers. Fireteam Delta dismounted from their Warthogs and took position in the middle of the wall which was right in front of the breach. The Warthogs perked themselves horizontally to the wall with their gunners still mounted. The Cyclopes and Mantises stayed behind the Marines, ODSTs, and Warthogs with the Scorpions and bridge's Grizzly right behind them. The Kodiaks stayed in the far back with the Hornets in the air.

Just after the UNSC finished setting up, a large amount of growls was heard over the horizon as the Grimm began approaching them. There were hundreds of them as they approached the UNSC entrenched in their positions.

"Here they come!" Matthews alerted everyone as the Grimm were now swarming them.

"INCOMING!" Bear yelled as he fired his M247H. The rest of the UNSC opened fire on the Grimm that were approaching them. There were hundreds, maybe even a thousand that were trying to attack them. Over the course of several minutes, the grimm were slowly pushing their way closer to the barricades with their numbers increasing every time one of them died. For about every single Grimm form the UNSC killed, they just replaced it with five more. Bridge, knowing he wasn't going to do much from the back with his Grizzly, exit out of his tank and opened the hatch for it. He decided that since much of the fighting was up close, he was more useful to the troops there.

"Tank's all yours, Marines!" Bridge announced as he exited the vehicle.

"Roger, sir!" one of the Marines replied as he got inside the empty Grizzly's driver seat. Bridge swapped his dual M7 SMGs for a BR55 battle rifle from the stockpile of weapons the UNSC troops had and grabbed more shotgun shells. After grabbing extra ammunition, he ran toward the troops and jumped off a piece of debris in the middle of the street. He landed on the ground right between Fireteam Delta with Bear, Lublin, and Alexander on his right with Matthews, Duran, and Longbow on his left. The ground shook a little as he landed on his feet due to the weight of his armor.

"About time you showed up, Lieutenant!" Duran spoke after she killed an Ursa Major.

Bridge got up on a chunk of a destroyed building right in front of the barricades and stood on top of it and fired his battle rifle at the Grimm. There were so many Grimm coming their way, it seemed like an endless human wave offensive coming right at them. The UNSC was holding their ground as the Grimm were pushing harder and harder. Luckily, some Pelicans dropped off more Kodiaks and Scorpions, along with more Marine squadrons for the defenders as two Vultures and a Condor Gunship now entered the scene. Teams RWBY and JNPR saw what was going on and they were in awe to see this many UNSC troops holding off the Grimm. Team CFVY also joined them as the Condor Gunship flew over them.

"Wow…" Ruby was lost for words as the massive heavily armed aircraft flew over her with its multiple pulse laser turrets and Light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon in view.

"They sure did bring some real firepower to deal with the Grimm. That's for sure!" Coco commented before the Condor's light MAC fired, its round penetrated through three Deathstalkers and killed them immediately. It's laser turrets then focused on multiple Ursai and Beowolves as they approached the UNSC. The Kodiaks were continuously raining down fire from their artillery cannons as the Scorpions and Grizzly kept blasting away. The Cyclopes and Mantises kept firing their guns with the Warthogs as the rest of the UNSC's soldiers continued to hold the line. The Grimm were now pushing even harder, and this time they would most likely succeed in breaking the UNSC's line.

" _Harvest_ Actual, this is Bridge. The Grimm are close to completely swarming us! Can you send support? Over."

" _Roger that Lieutenant, I'll send some Longswords to your position and rain down some Archer missiles._ Hold that line at all costs!" Marshall ordered him.

"Yes, sir!" Bridge replied after he finished an Ursa with a burst of his battle rifle to its head. He turned around to the troops and spoke to them.

"Come on troops, hold the line! We almost got it!" Bridge motioned to the soldiers with his left arm basically saying "Come on!". Velvet got up closer and took a picture of the moment with her scroll again.

The picture she took was Bridge standing on top of the building debris in a defensive stance with his battle rifle in his right hand aiming at the sky, and his left hand doing a "Come on!" type of motion to the soldiers. The Marines, ODSTs, and Army troopers were either at the barricades shooting at the Grimm or were rushing out of their Pelicans as they landed with their Warthogs shooting alongside them. The Mantises, Cyclopes, Scorpions, and the Grizzly were firing away as the shells from the Kodiaks were destroying the Grimm in the distance. A flight of Hornets flew by with their Marine passengers and did a strafing run on the Grimm and circled back around as the Grimm kept coming through the breach.

"Keep on firing, Marines!" Dubbo ordered as he finished a Beowolf with his assault rifle. Just as a huge swarm of Grimm were now attacking them, consisting of various Grimm forms such as Goliaths, King Taijitu, and Deathstalkers. Just as they entered through the breach, a massive swarm of Archer missiles rained down upon them with Longswords sweeping in and finishing the job. The Grimm, now loosing too many of their numbers, decided to do the one thing that any Grimm form would almost never do: retreat from their enemies.

"They're retreating! Keep it up!" Bridge ordered as he blasted a Creep in the face with his M90 shotgun who just tried to attack him. The Grimm knew that all was lost and they retreated through the breach, living to fight another day against a new enemy. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY were shocked in awe that the Grimm even decided to retreat from this new faction. Bridge then contacted Marshall as the battle was won.

" _Harvest_ Actual, this is Bridge. The Grimm are retreating from Vale!" Bridge announced as the troops and Fireteam Delta looked at the scene of the Grimm running away from them.

" _Great work, Lieutenant!_ _We are victorious!_ _You and everyone else have done one Hell of a job today!_ " Marshall complimented.

> "Thank you, sir! If the Grimm are looking for a fight..." Bridge cocked his M90 shotgun. "They'll have to come to us first!" Bridge finished as a squadron of Longswords flew over him, Fireteam Delta, and the rest of the UNSC troops, vehicles, and aircraft as they won the battle...


	4. The First Step and New Allies

**Hello everyone, SuspectNutria here again. I'm very glad that you're all enjoying "Last of the Brave", especially with Chapter 3, never thought my story would blow up when I released it. Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than usual, I was going to post it a little while ago, but I had three exams for my classes in Community College which took a bit, and I had some private life stuff that happened. Other than that, I'm back on track, and I got some very great ideas for future chapters. And big thanks to HeyMrJack, Roach, Ryan, Psiah, Jelo, and the rest of the gang from the "Qrow's Nest" on Discord for the ideas! (You can also find me on there with everyone else).**

**And especially big thanks to Solt or "KetchupPanzer", my friend on Discord as well for helping me with story ideas, scenarios, and plot points, thanks a lot man! I fixed the other chapters with some touches and edits, especially Chapter 1 with a lot of stuff, so they're all patched up from any inconvenient mistakes, big or small. I do like to go for quality over quantity when it comes to my chapters and make sure they are good to read (guess that's why I've been so successful in the first place...) And to any eagle-eyed readers out there, you might have noticed where the title of my story comes from, the Halo 3 soundtrack song "Last of the Brave'' from the mission "Crow's Nest". Anyway, enough talking from me. Enjoy the chapter folks!**

**Last of the Brave**

**Chapter 4: The First Step and New Allies**

* * *

**Beacon Academy Landing Platforms**

**March 29th, 2563, 16:30:45, UNSC Standard Time**

Team RWBY and Zwei were sitting on the edge of one of the landing platforms at Beacon Academy, overlooking the City of Vale across the lake. The UNSC _Harvest_ and the rest of her fleet were hovering over the city as the UNSC helped clean up the mess that the Grimm breach caused. Several Pelicans kept going to and from the Harvest as the city was recovering from the attack. Team RWBY didn't actually believe they would survive this battle, and meet some new, interesting faces along the way.

"Well... we did it." Ruby broke the silence.

"We did it!" Yang cheered.

"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm gonna be seriously disappointed." Weiss scoffed.

"Weiss…" Blake began. "The city was mostly saved by the combined efforts of this "UNSC" and their soldiers. I wouldn't count on it."

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything." Ruby said. "A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't know who's behind all of this."

"Well… not every story has a neat and tidy ending." Weiss added.

"We might not have all the answers, but we helped save the entire city. And we should be proud of it" Blake said.

"Yeah! And if the Grimm try something like this again, we'll be there to stop them again!" Ruby cheered.

"Yay, teamwork, camaraderie, good guys, go team, alright, good job…" Yang cheered on as she layed on her back with Zwei right next to her.

"Not to mention those guys helped out a lot during the battle." Blakepointed at the UNSC _Harvest_ and her fleet. "And we have no idea who they are besides that they're called this "UNSC" or whatever it is."

"Well... at least they aren't our enemies. They seem to have good intentions." Ruby spoke as she saw another flight of Pelicans leave from the _Arcadia_ and _Reach_.

"Even _IF_ they seem to have good intentions, Ruby, we shouldn't just trust them like they're our best friends." Weiss advised. "They showed up from out of nowhere and they are completely foreign.

"Yeah, I know that. I don't know what it is, but something deep down is telling me that these people are good, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Ruby said as the sun began to set with the _Harvest_ and her fleet over the city.

* * *

**Somewhere in the City of Vale**

Cinder Fall was on top of a building with Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black overlooking the City of Vale. The UNSC _Harvest_ and her fleet were overhead them as the battle was wrapping up as UNSC forces were finishing off any remaining pockets of Grimm inside the city.

"Overall, I'll say that today has been an unfortunate setback." Cinder said in a passive-aggressive tone.

"Salem's not going to like this, not one bit..." Emerald worried what Salem might do as punishment.

"Most of the Grimm were killed during the attack, and most of the Faunus didn't make it out of those tunnels. You think the White Fang will listen to us after this disaster?" Mercury asked.

"No… but they'll listen to me." Adam Taurus entered the conversation with his left hand on the grip of his blade.

"Then we shouldn't have any problems with cooperation in the future." Cinder claimed.

"But what about these guys?" Emerald asked worryingly as she pointed to the UNSC _Harvest_ with her fleet above them.

"I don't care who these Humans are, they are enemies to the White Fang no matter what." Adam stated.

"We'll see if these newcomers are going to be a problem for us. And if they are, they'll suffer the same fate like all our enemies…" Cinder answered Emerald as she glanced at the _Harvest_ 's name on the side of its hull with the UNSC's logo next to it.

* * *

**Somewhere else in the City of Vale**

"Vice Admiral, this is Bridge. We're finishing mopping up any Grimm stragglers that were left behind." Bridge informed Marshall as he unloaded a 3-round burst into an Ursa's head as it was struggling to get up from the ground.

" _Roger that Lieutenant, the last pockets of Grimm should be about done right now. You guys did a great job down there today._ " Marshall commented.

"Thank you, sir."

" _Once you're done down there, report to the bridge of the_ Harvest _with Matthews, ASAP._ "

"Roger that, sir. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Bridge proceeded to walk toward Fireteam Delta as they were finishing up the last remnants of the Grimm from today's attack. As the Spartan and ODSTs talked to each other, they were secretly being watched. They weren't being watched by Salem, Cinder, or any of their allies and/or pawns, but someone or _something_ else entirely. This being was as old as Remnant itself, and has seen Remnant's history unfold itself before him...

* * *

**Deep Underneath Remnant's Surface**

**Unknown Location**

The conversation between Bridge and Helljumpers was currently being displayed on a technologically advanced projector with some sort of light coming from it. The group moved out as a floating metal sphere of some sorts with a fluorescent blue-colored eye in the middle of its face as it was watching several projections of the UNSC on Remnant right now. The object in question continued to observe them and started making remarks toward them.

"Wonderful! They have finally made their way to this world! I shall soon prepare to meet them in an inevitable contact." the object said as it floated itself to a projection of UNSC ground forces helping the people of Remnant.

"How surprising. I didn't expect your forces to help the people on this planet this quickly and kill a massive amount of Grimm on your first arrival. I am impressed, almost too impressed for words." Bridge was zoomed in on as the object carefully inspected him.

"I must complete the preparations before I make contact with you, it has been far too long since I've talked to your kind. I must be cautious however, for "She", Salem, might discover the secrets of this world. She might discover _what_ this world was made for and it's secrets after all these years. But I doubt that she would even know about the real history behind this world, no one else knows the real history of this world, except for me."

The floating object hovered and closed the projecting screens of the UNSC, minus the one that had Bridge on it. He hovered closer to the screen and looked at Bridge's helmet.

"I will wait to make contact with your species once I finish the final preparations. And I especially can't wait to talk to you and your construct... _Reclaimer…_ " the screen that projected Bridge closed in thin air and the object hovered off somewhere else tending to his business.

* * *

**UNSC** _**Harvest** _ **, high above the City of Vale**

**March 29th, 2563, 18:30:40, UNSC Standard Time**

" _Air Traffic Control, this is Alpha 218. I got several Marines along with Fireteam Delta and Spartan Lieutenant Bridge and his AI onboard._ _Request permission to land, over._ " The pilot of the Pelican informed the Harvest.

" _Roger that Alpha 218, you're clear to land in Hangar 7A._ "

The D77-TC Pelican landed in the hangar as it's landing gear extended outward. The Marines inside the troop bay exit the vehicle with Bridge and Matthews coming out last. Bridge looked around the hangar as the UNSC _Harvest_ was busy as always, Marines and ODSTs were out and about, naval personnel were doing their jobs, vehicles were being maintained and repaired, Pelicans kept coming and going, ect. He even saw a HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark II [J] Colossus being escorted by two HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mantises as they made their way for repairs from their fights in the city.

"Let's get to the bridge while we still can, Lieutenant." Matthews suggested as the Vice Admiral was waiting for them.

"Yeah, let's go." Bridge replied as they walked to one of the elevators. He pressed one of the buttons for the bridge which made the elevator accelerate upwards and then go to a complete stop. The elevator then went horizontally left towards the bridge of the _Harvest_.

Once the elevator made it to its destination, Bridge stepped out and was greeted by Marshall, Apex, Dubbo, and Professor Smith all at the holotable which projected a 3D map of the City of Vale.

"Nice to see you three." Marshall greeted him as the two approached the holotable. Bridge ejected Victoria's chip from the back of his helmet and inserted it into the holotable.

"Now that you three are all here, we have some big plans ahead of us."

"Like what, sir?" Dubbo asked.

"Well, since we just saved this city from the Grimm who were very close to taking over the entire place, I've finished talking with the Council of Vale, Headmaster Ozpin, and General Ironwood. They've thanked us tremendously for helping them stop the massive Grimm invasion, and have agreed to let us help them in any way." Marshall answered.

"Such ways that we are going to help them is by hunting down any remnants of the Grimm that tried to invade the city yesterday, they're mostly holding up in Mountain Glenn. It's a southeastern expansion of the City of Vale, but it was overrunned and destroyed by the Grimm a long time ago. It makes a good spot for the Grimm to hold out in, or even our newest enemy, the White Fang."

"The "White Fang", sir?" Matthews asked, confused. No one has ever heard of that name before, let alone the Vice Admiral.

"I'm glad you asked, Major. Apex, explain to them." Marshall ordered Apex who then switched the holotable's projection to the White Fang's symbol and showed what some members of the organization looked like.

"The White Fang is an organization dedicated to Faunus civil rights, although their intentions were peaceful to begin with, they've become more violent overtime and they are now an active terrorist organization that show no discrimination with who they kill listed as "undesirable" or "traitors" to their cause. They will not hesitate to kill anyone who is Human on sight, even us." Apex explained.

"Uh, what are Faunus?" Bridge asked.

"Faunus are one of the two intelligent races that inhabit Remnant, the other race being Humans of course. They are practically the same as Humans, but they have an animal trait and/or part with them." Apex explained.

"Like what?" Victoria joined the conversation.

"Some traits can be night vision, improved strength, faster running speed, and some others. For parts, some Faunus can have ears, tails, or camouflaged skin, or sometimes other parts like tusks." Apex answered his question.

"Here's a big question: How the Hell did Humanity even manage to colonize this world without letting the rest of the entire UNSC or even the Office of Naval Intelligence know?" Matthews asked.

"We have no idea, Major. Me, Apex, and the Vice Admiral have been asking about it for a long time." Smith spoke up.

"Even if Humanity _somehow_ colonized this planet without the rest of the UNSC or even ONI knowing about it, we would have known where they were heading. Maybe these Humans are native to this planet and are separated from modern Humanity, I don't know... But right now, we should focus on the here and now with what we're doing." Marshall said.

"Besides hunting down the Grimm and doing counterterrorism against the White Fang, we have also been offered to help protect the Vytal Festival from anything that might happen. If we really want to show Remnant that we mean to have good intentions and we are not the bad guys, we're going to start cooperating and working with them."

Apex then switched the holotable's projection to the City of Vale again. This time it showed Atlesian ships flying in the sky, the Amity Colosseum, Beacon Academy, and Mountain Glenn.

"We need to be careful with what fights we're going to pick with. The Atlesian Military and Huntsmen combined completely dwarf our size of 25,000 UNSC personnel, over 20,000 of them are from the _Harvest_ alone and around a third of our forces combined are naval personnel. We're going to have to be extra careful when it comes to picking fights and what tactics we should use, we can't just risk our soldiers and replace them with more bodies, we don't have that pleasure and we can't fight on every front. But, we have the firepower, technology, and experience to face off against the Grimm and Fang combined and keep these people safe."

"Major, Lieutenant, Sergeant Major, tomorrow first thing in the morning you are going to Mountain Glenn. You are to wipe out all pockets of remaining Grimm from today's attack, and clean the place up of any other Grimm forms as well. But for now, get some rest and get the troops ready for tomorrow morning's mission. Got it?"

"Sir, yes sir!" All three of them replied in unison.

"Good, you're all dismissed for the rest of the night." Marshall informed them before they left. Bridge pulled Victoria's AI chip out of the holotable and back into the back of his helmet before he left to join Matthews and Dubbo inside the elevator before it left.

* * *

**UNSC** _**Harvest** _ **, Mess Hall**

**March 29th, 2563, 18:40:35, UNSC Standard Time**

The rest of Fireteam Delta were currently eating their dinner and hanging out with each other. They all had standard UNSC food with water as their drinks. Everyone was talking about the battle as they continued to eat their meals.

"I still can't believe we won that battle, no idea how we even managed to fight off a force as large as the Grimm had today." Lublin said after she took a sip from her water.

"Well we didn't back down, and then we took the fight to the Grimm." Bear spoke.

"I know, but we fought for a portion of Humanity that's completely unknown to the universe, we had no idea who these people are, yet what this planet even is. But damn it, we won! I wish the same could have been done for New Warsaw and Naxos." Lublin had a saddened face, which promoted Alexander to speak up.

"Don't worry Izabela, we may have failed to defend Naxos, but our spirit to fight for Humanity has not been extinguished. We lived to fight another day." he spoke.

"Yeah… I can't believe those alien bastards haven't found this planet and glassed it, if this planet has been left alone during the entire war, the Covenant sure missed a damn spot." Lublin said. "Never thought I'd live up to this moment after my family has been on the run from planet to planet during the entire war."

"Which is why we are determined to make sure the Believers or any other Covenant Remnant faction never find this planet." Bridge said as he and Matthews approached their table with their own food.

"At ease, Helljumpers." Matthews ordered them before they stood up and started salute at him.

Bridge removed Victoria's AI chip and placed it onto the table and removed his helmet afterwards. He placed his helmet on the table and sat down at his seat as Victoria projected herself from her chip. Bridge looked up and saw that everyone was quite surprised at what his face looked like, minus Victoria because she knows what he looks like, with Bear and Matthews not caring what he really looked like.

"Why are you guys so surprised? I'm just as Human as the rest of you." Bridge said.

"Well… we've never had an actual Spartan sit with us, and be in the open with their helmet off." Longbow answered.

"Glad to be your first then."

"Anyway… How was the meeting, Major?" Alexander asked before taking a bite of his apple.

"It was good, the Vice Admiral said that we'll be starting operations against the Grimm first thing tomorrow morning." Matthews replied as he took his helmet off.

"First thing?" Bear joined the conversation.

"First thing." Matthews placed his helmet on the table.

"Hey Lieutenant?" Duran asked Bridge who looked at her. "What's it like to be a Spartan and be in a relationship at the same time?"

"Can't say anything about it." he replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Never had a girlfriend before."

"You what?!" Bear asked. "A guy around your age usually has had or currently has a girlfriend, from my experience."

"Yeah, I never really had the chance to fully commit to a relationship. I've always been rotated to different planets and stations since I've been in the 78th when I was still an ODST. And when I became a Spartan I've been more occupied with being stationed on different planets and being busy with other UNSC personnel. Settling down and finding someone has never been a privilege of mine. I'm not much of a social person either, I'm terrible with large conversations when not on duty. And I doubt that any woman would romantically be interested in a Spartan like me."

"With respect sir, I call bullshit on that." Alexander rebutted. "You have been pretty sociable since we've first met, and you got Victoria to talk to, so you aren't really that bad at socializing. Besides, she's your best friend, right?"

"Yeah, I guess she is."

"Aww, thanks Bridge!" Victoria thanked him.

"And I'm pretty sure that there's plenty of women who would be interested in you, sir. It's always good to start out as friends and eventually grow."

"Ex-fucking-scuse me! Look at you and Lublin, Alexander! You two are basically what the Polish and Hungarians have been for most of history as best friends." Longbow pointed out.

"Maybe you two are… _MORE_ than "best friends"?" Duran asked as she leaned toward them and started to grin at both Alexander and Lublin. Both of them realized what she, ahem… " _meant_ ". Alexander and Lublin started to have blush slowly creep on their faces as they indeed had a crush on each other without knowing. Before their faces turned completely red, Bear got up from his seat and wrapped his arms around their necks, Alexander with his right and Lublin with his left.

"Look at you two! The ever-lasting Polish-Hungarian friendship in a nutshell as I say! Too perfect, HA HA HA!" Bear yelled as he played around with them. Both Alexander and Lublin tried to make Bear lose his grip on them, but the damn giant Russian was too strong for them, he was as strong as an Eastern Siberian brown bear.

"Cut it out Bear, that's an order!" Matthews ordered him.

"Sir, yes sir…" Bear replied, disappointingly. He released both Alexander and Lublin as they grabbed their necks and gasped for air.

"Skurwysynu..." Lublin said under her breath in Polish as she saw Bear sat down and.

(Translated: "Motherfucker...")

Alexander looked to his left at Lublin with a very PISSED OFF face at Bear. He raised an eyebrow raised and a "Seriously?" look on his face as he knew what she just said about Bear. They both knew how to speak a fair bit of each other's own languages besides mainstream English. Lublin looked at Alexander and lightly jabbed her right arm into him and gave a small laugh, wiping off the foul expression she gave to Bear and a smile was now present on her face. Lublin didn't really enjoy Bear when he does stunts like that, sure he's a nice guy to hang out with, but he sometimes gets on her nerves with him screwing around a little bit.

"Anything else important we have to do tonight, Major?" Duran asked as she now fidgeted with one of her electronic devices.

"Nope, nothing else. Just get some rest from today's events and get ready to leave the _Harvest_ by morning. We leave at 0600." he answered after eating his pear.

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC** _**Harvest** _

**March 30th, 2563, 06:15:00, UNSC Standard Time**

Professor Smith entered the bridge of the UNSC _Harvest_ as the sun rose over the horizon. The bridge was busy as usual like it always is 24/7, with Vice Admiral Marshall and Apex at the holotable in the middle of the room.

"I see that we're busy as usual?" Smith asked as he put his electronic pad on the holotable's ledge.

"Good morning to you too, Professor." Marshall greeted him as Apex produced a 3D map of Mountain Glenn. "Had enough sleep after all of the research you've been doing on this world?"

"More than enough sir, what are we doing today?" Smith asked as he pulled his glasses out and put them on.

"Today we're going to clean house with any remaining pockets of Grimm from yesterday's battle. They've scattered into Mountain Glenn and have made pockets of resistance that keep trying to attack the city's walls. Fireteam Delta, Lieutenant Bridge, Sergeant Major Dubbo, and a strike force are tasked to take care of them. Apex, how far is the strike force to their destination?"

"They should be landing right now, sir." Apex answered.

* * *

**Mountain Glenn**

"Harvest _actual, this is Alpha 218, we're approaching the drop zone with the strike force!_ " the pilot of the Pelican carrying a squadron of Marines, Fireteam Delta, and Bridge informed the _Harvest_.

" _Standby for drop!_ " the Pelican landed and opened its bay door. Bridge was the first one to exit the troop bay with a BR55 battle rifle in his hands with two M7 SMGs on the sides of his legs. Fireteam Delta soon exit and were behind him as they saw the other Pelicans land, dropping off their Marines. The scenery of Mountain Glenn was just like what any major urban battlezone from the Human-Covenant War looked like, most notably the battlefields of Harvest when the UNSC and Covenant fought for the planet's surface.

"Damn, this place really looks like a ghost town." Duran commented as she saw the destroyed and abandoned buildings.

"Yeah, this place looks a lot like Harvest back then..." Alexander said.

"It does, but we shouldn't be distracted by the scenery here, we have a mission to do." Matthews reminded him as a Condor delivered a Firebase to their location.

" _Bridge, our scouts have reported that nearby two nearby packs of Grimm are just two clicks south of your position._ " Marshall informed him and Victoria. " _I recommend that you take them out before reinforcements arrive, ASAP._ "

"Roger that, sir."

" _You'll be leading the strike force for this mission, reinforcements will be on their way as the Firebase assembles. If we want to show Remnant that we are not the bad guys, we'll show them that we are willing to keep them and the Vytal Festival safe from anything. In the meantime, I'll be negotiating with the Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood while you take care of the Grimm down there. Good luck, Spartan._ "

"Thank you, Vice Admiral. We'll be on our way fighting the Grimm down here. Out." Bridge disconnected from Marshall as he gathered Fireteam Delta and two squadrons of Marines at his location.

"Alright troops, listen up! There's a pack of Grimm just two clicks south of our position. We're going to eliminate them and any more of those monsters before reinforcements arrive. Everyone got it?" Bridge got multiple positive responses ranging from "Sir, yes sir!" and "Oorah!"

"Let's go, soldiers!" Bridge cocked his battle rifle and walked towards the Grimm's location.

"You heard the Lieutenant, and I ain't giving anyone a piggyback! Let's move it, Jarheads!" one of the Marine Sergeants ordered his troops as they moved out.

After exploring through the war-torn city, the group found a pack of Grimm searching for new prey. The group was inside an abandoned building as they looked over and watched the Grimm from their cover. Longbow drew his SRS99C-S2 AMB sniper rifle out and zoomed in onto the Grimm.

"Got eyes on hostiles, most of them are Beowolves and Ursai. Got a few Creeps as well." he announced as he scouted them out.

"How many can you count?" Bridge asked him as he knelt down to his right.

"The Beowolves and Ursai seem to be around the same size for their numbers, around a dozen at most. For the Creeps, around half a dozen."

"Alright then, I'll get their attention first." Bridge said as he got up. "Major, can your fireteam flank to the right?"

"Sure, Lieutenant. We can do that." Matthews nodded in agreement. "I suggest that Longbow stays up here, he's already got a good position up here."

"Agreed." Longbow cocked his sniper rifle.

"Alright then. Longbow, stay up here and pick them off. Marines, flank to the left while Fireteam Delta does the same on the right."

"Sir, yes sir!" both the Marine Sergeants replied.

"I'll get their attention myself once you guys get into position. Now let's go!" Bridge ordered as the Marines and Helljumpers, with the exception of Longbow, got into position right next to the Grimm.

"How do you plan on getting their attention, sir?" Longbow asked as Bridge backed up.

"Like this!" Bridge charged Spartan charged out of the room and jumped. As he was in the air, he ground pounded onto an Ursa Major's neck and stomped on its head, killing it instantly. The entire pack of Grimm looked straight at him and gave off their battle cries as he drew his dual SMGs out and cocked them. He began firing them as he killed a few Creeps and a Beowolf as the Marines and Fireteam Delta began to flank them.

"Go!" Matthews ordered as they broke from their cover and fired his MA5C assault rifle.

"Time to hide, cowards!" Bear yelled as he unleashed a rain of bullets from his M247H machine gun.

Duran, Alexander, and Lublin ran alongside Matthews and fired at the nearby Grimm as the Marines began their flank on the Grimm. Bridge ran toward a Beowolf who tried to swipe its claws at him, but he dodged the attack with his thrusters and delivered a solid punch to its face. He then unloaded both SMGs to its face, killing it as he held his fingers on the triggers. After fighting the Grimm for a few more minutes, the other horde of Grimm converged on their location with backup as the UNSC soldiers heard their roars.

"Looks like we've stirred up the hornets' nest!" Alexander informed as he blew a Creep's brains out with his M6S magnum.

Just as the first group of Grimm was finished off, another one approached their position, this one was much larger with three Death Stalkers three Nevermores as backup. Just as the Grimm horde was approaching the group, six Warthogs along with two Cyclopes and Scorpions arrived and gunned them down. A flight of Hornets with a single Vulture focused their fire on the Nevermores and then the Death Stalkers as the troops and vehicles on the ground opened fire on the Grimm rapidly approaching them. As the dust settled, a wave of reinforcements from the fleet arrived at the Firebase as the UNSC began their offensive against the Grimm in Mountain Glenn.

" _Reinforcements have arrived, Bridge. Looks like we got some cleaning up to do for the rest of the day._ " Victoria said as two Pelicans came to their position and dropped off a pair of Mantises.

"Looks like we do." Bridge replied as the Mantis drivers got into their seats and were ready for combat. Alexander then pulled up right next to Bridge in a Warthog he drove with Lublin in the passenger's seat with her M41 SPNKR rocket launcher out. Bridge then got on the M46 Vulcan as they drove off. Alexander pulled up to Fireteam Delta as their group was ready to move out with their reinforcements.

"You three really like to drive together. What are you, the "Warthog Buddies"?" Bear asked as he commented on how Alexander, Lublin, and Bridge have always been in their own positions on the Warthog since their first fight together back on Naxos Prime.

"Hey, you got something else better to do?" Lublin asked him.

"Yeah! I'm going to shoot these monsters with my big ass gun, that's what!" Bear answered.

"Just don't waste your ammo, big guy! Your gun won't do any damage if you're out of bullets!" Alexander bantered at him in a friendly manner.

"Ha! And your Warthog won't be of much use if you decide to crash it on the side of the road!" Bear lightly punched his arm.

"Alright, cut the chatter! Let's move out everyone!" Bridge ordered as he cocked the Warthog's M46 Vulcan turret. Alexander then drove off after Bridge finished speaking with the rest of the strike force behind them.

* * *

**UNSC** _**Harvest** _ **, Vice Admiral Marshall's Quarters**

**March 30th, 2563, 07:00:00, UNSC Standard Time**

" _Greetings, Vice Admiral. I assume you know who we both are?_ " one of the figures from the screen asked Marshall as he sat in his desk's chair.

"Yes, you are Headmaster Ozpin and General James Ironwood. Me and my crew have done our research." Marshall answered as he put his hands together.

" _Good. Me and the general just wanted to say that we owe you a great many thanks for saving the City of Vale before the Grimm would have ultimately swarmed it._ " the figure now known as Ozpin thanked him with General Ironwood speaking right after him.

" _Yes, the citizens of Vale are in your debt for saving the entire city. And your soldiers' bravery and courage displayed while fighting the Grimm yesterday has left a… large impact on how my soldiers look towards you._ "

"You don't have to thank us, it's our job as the UNSC to defend Humanity, whatever the cost may be." Marshall said.

" _If you don't mind me asking this, but what really is this "UNSC" faction you're a part of all about?_ " Ozpin asked with curiosity.

"We are the United Nations Space Command, or UNSC for shirt. The UNSC is the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the Unified Earth Government, which the UEG is the central civilian government that administers our home planet, Earth, and all her colonies." Marshall answered. His answer left both Ozpin and Ironwood confused, yet curious as to who Marshall and the rest of the UNSC forces under his command really are.

" _So… you aren't from here is what you're saying?_ " Ozpin asked with curiosity.

"Yes, me and the brave men and women under my command are not from Remnant, we come from a different part of the galaxy."

" _How is that even possible? Remnant is not capable of space travel and even if we did, Dust is not usable once you leave orbit._ "

"Well General, we don't use this "Dust" that you use. We use what's called a "Slipspace Drive" in order to achieve interstellar travel across the galaxy. Our technology is vastly different from yours."

" _I see… And how is this interstellar travel possible?_ "

"To cut it short: A slipspace drive is capable of making transitions to and from slipstream space and by extension allowing faster-than-light interstellar travel. This device on every ship functions by creating ruptures between normal space and slipspace." Marshall answered his question.

" _Fascinating…_ " Ironwood was shocked at how advanced these Humans were by achieving space travel. Atlas has tried several times to achieve space travel themselves, but all attempts have unfortunately failed and they put the project to waste as Atlas had more pressing matters to attend to.

"I could go on, but that would get into the more detailed version of what a slipspace drive and slipspace do with each other."

" _If you two are done talking, we have other problems to focus on._ " Ozpin spoke up after he took a sip from his mug. " _I've heard that your soldiers have been fighting the Grimm in Mountain Glenn, is that correct, Vice Admiral?_ "

"Yes, that would be correct." he replied.

" _Well... seeing that the Vytal Festival starts in less than a week from now, we could always use the extra help keeping the festival safe. You've said yesterday during your broadcast that your faction's intentions are peaceful and your goals align with ours. Most people seem to be relieved at your statements over the CCT yesterday, considering that a new and foreign faction is now in Remnant that no one knows about. We want to know if you're willing to cooperate with us, we can see that you and the brave men and women under your command are lost in a foreign land, but that's not stopping you from helping out your fellow man. You are trying to fight the good fight, but have no idea what side you're on until you've made the choice, which you have already done yesterday._ "

"I guess we kind of already did that, yes." Marshall commented.

" _And with your forces fighting side by side with the Huntsmen and Atlesian Military against the Grimm during yesterday's attack, you have clearly shown that you're willing to fight and die for the innocent people of Remnant. So Vice Admiral, are you willing to work with us?_ " Ozpin asked Marshall. All he got was silence for a few seconds until Marshall spoke after he made his choice.

"Yes, Ozpin. Me and my forces are willing to work with you and General Ironwood." Marshall answered his question.

" _I'm glad you've made the right choice, Vice Admiral. Let's begin, shall we?_ "

* * *

**Somewhere far from Vale, Atlesian airship**

**March 30th, 2563, 17:15:00, UNSC Standard Time**

Atlesian Specialist Winter Schnee was onboard her airship as it traveled to the City of Vale. She has been called from Atlas at General Ironwood's request to help oversee the Atlesian Military detachment overlooking the Vytal Festival. She brought all the necessities she needed to stay in Vale and decided to wear her new uniform for the occasion and make herself more presentable. While her airship kept its course, she walked up to the cockpit and asked the pilots a question.

"What's our ETA for Vale?" she asked.

"We should arrive at Vale by 1700 hours tomorrow, less than twelve hours, ma'am." one of the pilots answered.

"Good, we should get there as soon as possible. We can't let our enemies plot an attack against the Vytal Festival while they have the chance."

"Understood, ma'am."

Winter proceeded to turn around and leave the pilots to themselves as she decided to let her mind rest for the rest of the night. She sat down in a chair and let out a sigh of relief as the thought of seeing her sister again made a small smile grow on her face. Winter missed Weiss so much, she was honestly quite happy to see her again. The memory of helping Weiss train on that one night at the Schnee Manor and telling her that won't always be around to save her little sister, and that she had to get better if she wanted to leave her home. It turns out, she eventually did. Overtime, her sister carried herself onward and got accepted into Beacon Academy, far away from Atlas, the Schnee Dust Company, and most importantly, her asshole of a father.

She decided to bring her scroll out and go over her checklist of things to do. First thing she did was to check the last thing off as she had nothing to do for the rest of the night. Her finger then pressed an app icon which opened her messages with General Ironwood from yesterday from the Grimm attack. There were no new messages ever since this morning as she left Atlas for Vale. Winter closed her messages and went to check in with the events after the Grimm attack on Vale.

The CCT was just flooded with continuous information and speculation about the breach. Ever since this "UNSC" faction joined the fight against the Grimm, literally _EVERYONE_ on the CCT was going wild over this. From their supposed leader broadcasting himself to the entire City of Vale, to seeing their troops push back the Grimm on their own, there was a large amount of speculation surrounding them. Winter herself was curious about this new faction, along with almost everyone else in the Atlesian Military. This "UNSC" as they call themselves just randomly show up during the middle of the battle, and they saved the entire city as the Grimm attacked with such ferocity.

Winter finished reading one of the headlines about the breach, and decided to watch some of the combat footage that General Ironwood sent to her, beginning the first clip. The footage began with what seemed to be UNSC soldiers running through a battlefield as a nearby wall exploded. The soldiers recovered quickly and started to move forward as their leader gave them the order.

"Go, go, go!" their Sergeant yelled as they continued to move forward.

The UNSC soldiers arrived at a wall of debris where their fellow brothers and sisters in arms were defending themselves from a group of Ursai. A few of the Marines yelled out as they arrived and started to fire upon the Grimm. Most of the soldiers had what Winter believed to be fully automatic assault rifles with a blue ammo counter, along with a few having a three-round burst rifle with an ammo counter and a scope as well. The soldiers continued firing at the Grimm as their defense was almost about to break, until a vehicle slammed its side right through the crowd of Grimm.

The camera then switched to the vehicle that slammed into the Grimm, Winter analyzed it and made the assumption that it was a light tactical ground vehicle that had seats for a driver, passenger, and a gunner. The vehicle's gunner fired the chaingun at multiple Grimm as the driver drove off into the city. She noticed how reliable the vehicle was compared to what Atlas had, and took a keen interest in it. It's front bumper made the vehicle almost look like an animal, like a Puma for example.

She switched to the next clip which showed more UNSC soldiers behind pieces of debris for cover as a horde of Grimm were approaching them. They fired their weapons at the monsters as they valiantly defended their position with all of their might. The camera moved over to a three-man squad that were behind their cover as one of them yelled and pulled out what seemed to be a shotgun.

"Keep firing!" the soldier yelled as he fired his shotgun at a Beowolf, killing it instantly.

Then the camera cut to a shot of several dropships arriving with several vehicles and a tank rushing through the drop zone. Winter was keeping an eye on the design of the UNSC dropships, they looked so iconic that you can't mistake them as anyone else's in Remnant. As the dropships landed, she saw that their rear landing gear had the word " **MARINES** " in white, bold letters inscribed on them. The soldiers from the dropships rushed out as one of them yelled.

"Move out! Go, go!"

Winter saw the rest of the soldiers rush out of their dropships as well, all of their aircraft had the same inscribed word of " **MARINES** " on their rear landing gear just like the first one shown. She now assumed that these soldiers, and the ones from the previous clips, were these UNSC "Marines" as they called themselves. The rest of the clips Winter scrolled through were filled with UNSC Marine protecting civilians and helping the Atlesian Military fight off the Grimm during the rest of the breach. However, one specific clip got her full attention.

The final clip was from an Atlesian soldier with a Beowolf in front of him. The beast was ready to kill the poor injured soldier as it raised its arm, its claws sharpened and ready to strike at him. Just before the soldier was about to meet his end, a giant 7 foot armor-clad figure smashed through a concrete wall with his body from out of nowhere and knocked the beat down! The figure then brought his left fist down against the Beowolf's face, killing it instantly. Winter was… shocked, to say the least as she saw this massive figure take down a Beowolf in one it. She looked closer and saw on the figure's upper right side of his chest were three bold white letters: " **091** ", and what seemed to be the UNSC logo both inscribed onto his armor as he stood over the Beowolf's decaying corpse. The figure then looked to the soldier's right and saw a group of two Beowolves and Ursai approaching them, he ran towards them with such speed that seemed impossible for anyone without a Semblance or an Aura, which made Winter even more shocked for that matter. He ran towards them with the same three-round burst rifle with a scope the Marines had earlier and charged at the Grimm with no fear in him, and jumped from a large piece of debris into the small group by pounding himself into the ground, making the Grimm lose their feet and fall onto the ground. The figure fired burst at the Beowolves' heads first and then proceeded to deal with the Ursai, he equipped his shotgun from his back and fired it right one of the Ursai's face after he peeled the bone mask off its face. The last one was killed as he tore its mask off, and stabbed it repeatedly in the face with his combat knife that was holsted in its case on the upper left side of his chest.

Winter blinked her eyes multiple times as she was trying to realize what she even just saw. She rewinded the clip to when the figure was standing over the Beowolf's corpse with his rifle in hand. She took a screenshot and knew that General Ironwood would want to see this. Her messages app was opened and she began to contact him.

Winter: " _General, may I have a word with you?_ "

Ironwood: " _Of course Miss Schnee, how can I help you?_ "

Winter: " _I was watching the footage from the Grimm attack yesterday, and I found something…_ "

Ironwood: " _What is it?_ "

Winter: " _What the Hell even is THAT?!_ "

Winter sent the screenshot of the figure from the clip she saw. He was standing over a Beowolf's corps as it was decaying with his rifle in hand. The sun also shined off from his silver visor from his helmet. Ironwood, just like Winter, was shocked at what they were even looking at, making them both very curious as well.

Ironwood: " _I have no idea. What is that?_ "

Winter: " _It seems to be some kind of super and advanced soldier, sir. From what I can tell from the footage, it's UNSC._ "

Ironwood: " _Good, whoever that is will be an ally we want to have. The UNSC have agreed to work with us and Beacon Academy to help keep the vytal Festival safe._ "

Winter: " _They're our ALLIES now?_ "

Ironwood: " _Yes, Miss Schnee. And we plan on cooperating and working with them real soon, this includes you as well._ "

Winter: " _Understood, sir._ "

Ironwood: " _We have a lot to prepare before the Vytal Festival starts, so we're going to make the event as safe as possible with our new allies. I wish to continue talking, but tight now I have some important matters to attend to._ "

Winter: " _Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I'll send you the footage to look over for yourself._ "

Ironwood: " _Thank you, Miss Schnee. Ironwood out._ "

Winter immediately switched back to the screenshot she took of the armor-clad figure. She had seen nothing like it before, no Atlesian armor was as advanced as that for a single individual soldier, including any that failed the trials. She searched across the CCT for any other footage of pictures of this figure, and she eventually did. There was a video of the same figure with some kind of elite UNSC troopers fighting a Death Stalker, what she saw next totally surprised her. The same figure fired what seemed to be SMGs in his hands as he charged toward the gigantic beast as the other UNSC soldiers were distracting it, he then jumped into the air with the help of some kind of thrusting boosters on his armor toward the Death Stalker as he put his SMGs away. His right hand then formed into a fist as it made connection with the Death Stalker's bone mask, and started to punch it repeatedly with all of his might, tearing off a giant chunk of it once he was finished. Finally he took what looked like a grenade and armed it, sticking it right underneath the Death Stalker's mask where its exposed skin lied.

The figure jumped off the Death Stalker's face as it tried to swipe its claws at him by doing a backflip and rolling backwards away from it. He got onto his knees as the Death Stalker rushed towards him and then stopped dead in its tracks, it's head exploded with pieces of bone and flesh flying everywhere. She saw that the figure covers his silver visor with his arm as the Death Stalker's head exploded, keeping it clean. He then stood up as the creature's body laid dead and looked down at a dying Beowolf, and stomped on its face with his right foot, putting it out of its misery as it led out a cry of pain.

Winter was taken back at how damn effective and deadly this killing machine of a soldier was. She seemed almost kind of afraid that if she ever fought him, it would be the end for her. But, now that the UNSC and Atlas are now working together, the thought of her fighting that soldier died down. She concentrated on him after the video ended with him killing the Beowolf at the end and looked up.

"WHO and WHAT even are you?..." Winter asked the picture as she continued to analyze the giant armor-clad figure.

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC** _**Harvest** _

**March 30th, 2563, 17:45:00, UNSC Standard Time**

Vice Admiral Marshall and Apex were at the holotable in the middle of the room as Remnant's sun was setting in the distance over the horizon. After having a long talk with Headmaster Ozpin, General Ironwood, and even the Council of Vale, Marshall has reaffirmed the UNSC's position in Remnant's affairs. Marshall and the rest of the UNSC forces under his command weren't going to leave this planet to waste, they were going to help keep the Vytal Festival safe and protect the innocent men and women of Remnant from any danger, following their oath to Humanity they all swore the day they officially joined the UNSC. As the sun was about to set, the doors to the room opened, revealing none other than Lieutenant Bridge himself. He walked towards the holotable and gave the Vice Admiral a salute, which Marshall gladly returned one back at him.

"You called for me, sir?" Bridge asked as he stopped giving a salute to Marshall.

"Why yes, I did, Spartan." Marshall answered his question.

"What did you need from me and Victoria?"

"I called you here because I don't need you or Victoria's services, I called you here because I need to tell you something important."

"I'm all ears, sir." Bridge stood at attention with his hands behind his back.

"Lieutenant… Do you know who I am?" Marshall asked him. Bridge was a little bit confused as to why the Vice Admiral would ask him a question like that.

"Sir?"

"I asked you Spartan: "Do you know who I am?"" Marshall asked again.

"With the small amount of time I had left on the _Infinity_ before departure, I did my research on you and discovered that you're in command of the Naxos Battle Group assigned to defend Naxos Prime. I also learned that you're a well-respected and charismatic superior officer, along with being a Veteran of the Human-Covenant War."

"That's the basic information on me, but I'm a bit more than that."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"You see Lieutenant, I'm one of the top leading key figures of the Spartan Corps. And I've been watching you ever since you joined the program. From the first day you were a simple recruit, you fought your way to become one of the best Spartans we have right now. With you using your past experience and skills as an ODST from the first day of training to your recent missions, you have made an example to everyone, Spartan or not, that you're someone who is determined to fight alongside your brothers and sisters in arms for the future of Mankind. And I like a soldier who does that on a daily basis."

"Thank you, sir."

"I called you up here because I have a proposition for you."

"What is it, sir?"

"Ever since we arrived at Remnant, you have shown great leadership skills on the battlefield. And especially with yesterday's battle, you have shown the troops that you're a proper leader that they would follow to the depths of Hell with. And from several conversations Apex has overheard, the troops respect you a lot and their morale is high now that they have a Spartan to fight with. And the fact that you consider yourself more of an ODST from your past experiences and a Marine from your first days at basic boot camp, the troops see you as a Spartan who wants to fight with them, compared to some of the… _other_ Spartans you've met during training."

"Yes sir, I do want to fight with the common soldiers of the UNSC more than other Spartans." Bridge said.

"And that's why the troops like you a lot. To cut to the chase, the proposition I have is this: I want you to be my second in command tasked with our ground forces, you'll be promoted to the rank of Spartan Commander."

"Commander, sir?" Bridge was taken back by the Vice Admiral's request. One of the top brass of the Spartan Corps actually _wants_ him to lead the fleet's ground forces and be promoted to the rank of Spartan Commander?

"You heard me, I want you to be my second in command. It's optional, of course."

"What if I refuse?" Bridge asked.

'Then I'll just find another candidate, a weaker one at that. So what do you say, Lieutenant?"

"I… I'm not sure if I'm ready for that responsibility. I don't know if I'm ready for the rank of Spartan Commander as well, sir." Bridge worried.

"I know, I'll give you some time to think it over for the night. Come back to me once you've decided. You're dismissed, Lieutenant."

Bridge gave the Vice Admiral a salute before he left the holotable and the room. He opened the doors to the main hallway and walked away from the doors a little bit and pulled out Victoria's chip. He then spoke to her as she projected herself in a nervous and worried tone.

"Victoria, what should I do?! I don't know if I should accept the Vice Admiral's proposal or not!"

"Bridge… calm down." Victoria tried to calm him down, which didn't work at first.

"I don't deserve the rank of Commander. I don't want to be someone who's going to be pointed at for any potential failure we-" he was cut off by Victoria yelling at him.

"TRAVIS!" she got his attention as she called him by his first name, making him stop talking. "Calm down, and listen to me."

"Alright, go ahead." Bridge told her.

"Bridge, do you know why I was assigned to you in the first place?" she asked him.

"Because Captain Lasky personally wanted you to be my AI companion?"

"Yes and no. It was actually the Vice Admiral who wanted me to become your personal AI companion, Captain Lasky joined in on it once he was informed about your promotion. And I don't regret it, you're the best soldier I have ever come across. You're brave, charismatic, determined, and all around, you're a great guy, Bridge. You're like a brother to me Bridge, and I care about you." Bridge was silent for a few seconds as he took all of that in.

"Thanks, Victoria. I appreciate it." Bridge complimented her. "Now what do you think I should do with the Vice Admiral's proposition?"

"I'd say go for it, the troops already like you a lot. And Fireteam Delta treats you like you're a full time member of their fireteam, maybe even like you're a part of the family."

"So, I should do it?"

"Yes, I say go for it. But the choice is yours, and I can't stop you from making the final decision."

"Alright then, thank you, Victoria." Bridge proceeded to insert her chip back into his helmet before she spoke again.

"Hey?"

"Yeah?" Bridge put her chip in front of him again.

"Can I call you my best friend now?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"I thought we've been best friends since we began working together?"

"Yeah, but I want it to be official. So, are we?" Victoria crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Bridge.

"Yes, we're officially best friends now, Victoria."

"Yay!" Victoria cheered as Bridge put her chip back into his helmet's AI slot. Bridge took about a minute to make his final decision, and he finally made up his mind.

Bridge walked to the doors and opened them. He entered the bridge of the _Harvest_ again with the Vice Admiral and Apex still at the holotable in the middle of a discussion. The Spartan caught their attention as his heavy footsteps were heard by them as they made contact with the floor. Bridge saluted in front of them and spoke to Marshall.

"Spartan Commander Travis Bridge, reporting for duty, sir!" Marshall had a big smile on his face as Bridge accepted his offer. He then spoke in a proud voice at the Spartan.

"I like the way you think, Spartan. Let's get to work."


End file.
